Page 704 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

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

and Luoshu (Chart of the [Yellow] River; Writ of the Luo [River]) as well as
various revealed texts (see *TAOISM AND THE APOCRYPHA). These too were
bestowed by Heaven or a deity onto a worthy individual or ruling family.
Taoism inherited this idea and applied it to bothjing ~~ (scriptures) and *pu
(talismans). The latter term originally denoted the two tallies of a contract
between vassal and sovereign and also defined a contract between Heaven
and the virtuous possessor of the talisman.
On a cosmic level, ling and baG typified Heaven and Earth, respectively,
whose union was essential for human life. In some instances, human beings
themselves could become a receptacle for the deity. In the Chuci ~ ~ (Songs
of Chu; trans. Hawkes 1985, II3), for example, the related term lingbao il ~
was the name of a priestess under divine possession. Sorcerers who worked
with court exorcists ifangxiang 11;f§) to banish demons and spirits were simi-
larly referred to as lingbao. In funerary rites, the representative of the dead
(shi P) was the baG or receptacle into which the spirit (ling, *hun, or *shen) of
the deceased descended for the ritual.
These complex groupings of representations coalesced in the *Lingbao scrip-
tures, particularly in the * Lingbao wufu xu (Prolegomena to the Five Talismans
of the Numinous Treasure). Throughout this scripture, the earliest Lingbao
text, the terms ling and baG are used separately to denote the sacredness of
written documents (jing or scriptures, fu or talismans, shu • or writs), and
to refer to Heaven (ling) and Earth (bao). The Lingbao wufu xu is composed of
talismans and collections of revealed recipes for transcendence, both of which
are bao. In essence, the scripture itself is a lingbao conferred as a blessing from
Heaven and celestial deities.
In Taoism the celestial is also present within the body, recalling the descent
of the numinous into a sorcerer, priestess, or representative of the dead.
Through dietary regimes, behavioral rules, or meditational practices, the Dao
(ling) circulates in the body, and one's inner organs are portrayed as receptacles
(bao) in which deities reside (see *wuzang).
Amy Lynn MILLER

III Kaltenmark 1960; Kaltenmark 1982, 1-4; Robinet 1997b, 149- 50; Seidel 1981;
Seidel 1983a

* Lingbao; TAOISM AND THE APOCRYPHA