Page 81 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

OVERVI EW 41

Fig. 7- Ordination certificate bestowed in 1981. Reproduced with
permission of Princeton University Press from Dean I993, 54.

scriptures. Later, the Shangqing tradition developed its own ordination
registers.
Bestowal of registers in ordination. In later Taoist ordination and investiture rites,
the adept receives registers listing protective deities. As the adept advances, he
is given a longer register with more deities. The register records the names
and attributes of the divine generals and their soldiers whom the adept calls
upon in visualizations and spells to prote€t the possessor, affect healing, and
convey petitions to the otherworld. In return, the adept agrees to obey certain
precepts. In effect, the adept is entering into a contract with the deities as well
as the master who bestows the register.
the Child Register of the Highest One General (Taishang yi jiangjun tongzi lu '*
During the first ordination rite held at seven years of age, the adept receives

L - ~ ~itT~) . At the next ordination stage, the adept is given more com-
mandments to obey as well as a register listing ten otherworldly generals under
his power. During adolescence, the adept receives a register of seventy-five
generals. For women, the register is referred to as Upper Numinous (shangling
L 1i), and for men it is called Upper Transcendent (shangxian L {W). If two
initiates marry, their registers are combined for a total of one hundred fifty
deities, the highest ordination level for a layperson. The next level of ordina-
tion, where one receives one hundred eighty deities to summon as well as one
hundred eighty commandments to obey; is limited to masters.
The Celestial Masters ordination registers, called Registers of the Pneumas
of the Twenty-four Parishes (ershisi zhi qi lu = + 12] 7~~~), are referred
to as Esoteric Registers (neilu I*J~) for the masters and Exoteric Registers