Page 583 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

542 THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

forms of the zhai liturgy. Rewarding the subordinate spirits was implied in
the "statement of merit" itself, which reported to heaven the conscientious
and successful execution of their official duties, on which their advancement
within the spiritual hierarchy depended. The incorporation of large-scale
offerings as part of the overall liturgy, and the introduction of the termjiao
to designate the concluding segment, did not occur until the Tang dynasty,
when indeed the use of the combined term, zhaijiao 'lfM, became current
in reference to major Taoist ceremonies.
The jiao that was thus added to the zhai liturgy clearly had a separate origin
and followed a separate line of development during the Six Dynasties. Indeed,
the history of the term from before the emergence of Celestial Masters Taoism
associates it with exactly the kinds of practices that this Taoism was eager to
condemn. The locus classicus for these earlier forms is the Gaotangfu ~ m ij\
(Rhapsody on Gaotang) by Song Yu *1'. (third century BCE), which describes
the activity of certain "magicians" (*fangshi), who presented "pure sacrificial
oxen" (chunxi i;4:~), prayed to the stars of the Northern Dipper (*beidou), and
"made offerings (jiao) to all the deities and worshipped the Great One" (Wenxuan
}(~,j. 19; trans. Knechtges 1982-96, 2: 325-39). It is clear that such practices
were widespread within the so-called "occult traditions" of the south, prior to
the full-scale transmission of the Way of the Celestial Masters that occurred
after 317 CE, as is evident from the summary of these traditions in the *Baopu
zi, and notably in the jiao to the Five Emperors (Wudi ]i *) described in the
*Lingbao wufo xu (3.3a-5a). It clearly descends from Han dynasty ritual, and
serves to establish and confirm the alliance of the practitioner with the divini-
ties that empower the crucial five Lingbao talismans. The ritual comprises the
killing of a goose, as well as elaborate ofterings of wine. An updated version
of this ritual is found in the Lingbao corpus, with the important elimination
of the killing of the goose, which is replaced by dates and fresh fruit, and the
wine, which is replaced by pure, fragrant tea (Lingbao wudi jiaoji zhaozhen yujue
Blif 1i 1% M %Htl tJ;f. M; CT 4II, 1a-2a). However, as with the precedingjiao,
the eponymous purpose is to make the Perfected, i.e., the Five Emperors,
descend in response to the offerings (jiaoji zhaozhen rut. ~~ ti4 A).
A similar emphasis is found in the jiao liturgy described in the Suishu (History
of the Sui; 35.I092--93, completed 644), which describes the jiao under the head-
ing "Methods for dispelling disaster and saving from danger," and associates it
with divinatory methods for calculating individual destinies (shushu t~ f:fJ): '1\t
night, under the light of the stars, wine, dried meat, cakes, and pledges of silk
are laid out and offered successively to the Celestial Sovereign, the Great One
(Tianhuang Taiyi *- ~ A-), and to the five planets and the array of stellar
mansions. [The priest] produces a document like in the ritual of sending up
a petition in order to report it. This is called an Offering (jiao)." "Methods of