Page 706 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAOISM A-L

a comprehensive listing of Taoist texts for presentation to the throne, thus
ensuring Lingbao texts prominence in subsequent canons. Lingbao codes of
morality and practice led to a more formalized temple Taoism with a profes-
sional priesthood to oversee religious activity throughout China. In addition,
the success of the Lingbao effort to sinicize elements of Buddhist belief not
only shaped the direction of Taoism itself, but also aided the integration of
Buddhism into Chinese society.
History. Unlike the Shangqing scriptures of *Yang Xi, whose transcripts of
visionary sessions and even correspondence with his patrons was collected
and annotated by Tao Hongjing, we have only scattered references that re-
flect on the actual composition of the early Lingbao scriptures. According to
the Lingbao scriptures themselves, the texts were first revealed to *Ge Xuan
(trad. 164-244), an uncle of Ge Hong who had gained some local renown as
Transcendent Duke (Xiangong {w ~), a title bestowed upon him by deities.
Such attributions were clearly intended to grant the scriptures precedence
over earlier Taoist texts copied into them.
In similar fashion, the subsequent transmission history of the texts given
in the scriptures, from Ge Xuan to *Zheng Yin (ca. 215-ca. 302) to Ge Hong
(283-343), seems to have been fabricated to account for the inclusion of material
from earlier Taoist texts. In fact, one of the scriptures included in the Canon,
the Lingbao wufu xu, was a text known to Ge Hong and bears no signs of the
soteriology or cosmology of the remaining scriptures.
Later Taoist records state that the Lingbao scriptures were "released to the
world" ca. 400 CE by *Ge Chaofu (fl. 402), a grandnephew of Ge Hong. While
some attempts have been made to discern multiple stages of composition
by different groups of Taoists for portions of the scriptures, none of these
theories has gained acceptance. Equally inconclusive have been attempts to
use developments within the Buddhist sphere, particularly the translations
in northern China of Kumiiraji'va (ca. 344-ca. 409), to date emphases within
the Lingbao scriptures; the only demonstrated borrowings come from the
translations of Zhi Qian Y: ii#t and Kang Senghui W ftfl *, both late third-
century translators in the south. Modern scholars have thus generally taken
the statements concerning the scriptures' "release to the world" to indicate
that the scriptures were largely composed by Ge Chaofu.
None of Lu Xiujing's surviving works relate how the scriptures came down
to him. In his *Lingbao jingmu (see table 16), Lu divided the canon into two
sections: "old" (jiu {r;) scriptures of former world-ages and "new" (xin ,¥,/T)
scriptures comprised of oral instructions and dialogues between Ge Xuan
and his divine instructors and earthly disciples. Only one of the old scriptures,
the Falun zUifu it ~ ~:ffll (Blame and Blessing of the Wheel of the Law; CT
346, 358, 455, and 647) presents Ge Xuan as the first earthly recipient, but his