英文摘要 |
In the Six-Dynasties Period, when Taoism was at the peak of its development, different Taoist practices were continually proposed, modified, and rejected. The particular sexual rites, huangchi, practiced by the Tianshidao 天師道(the Celestial Masters School), had existed since the inception of Taoism, but. it was constantly subjected to criticism for its controversial morality. Notwithstanding, members of the Celestial Masters School stuck to the tradition of sex rituals within their group, for reasons that deserve our further investigation. This paper proposes to conduct a textual analysis on two significant documents in Celestial Masters School, namely The Shangqing huangshu guodu yi 上清黃書過度儀(Rites of Salvation of the Yellow Writings of Highest Clarity) and the Dongzhen huangshu 洞真黃書(The Yellow Writings of the Cavern-Perfected) in the series of eight-volumed Huangshu 黃書(The Yellow Writings). In light of the doctrinal development described in the documents, an initial attempt is made to distinguish the Celestial Masters Sect, which originated in Yuntaizhi under its founder Zhao Sheng, from the Celestial Masters School, and to warn against the oversimplification of treating the various Celestial Masters School as one unified, homogeneous trend of thought and practices. The analysis of the rites of salvation of the Yellow Writings reveals that the rites were actually a series of initiation rituals. In the spirit of the harmonious unification between Heaven and Earth that complement each other, copulation was performed between masters and neophytes of the opposite sex in an effort to pass on to the followers the heavenly qi that materialized as chiqi in human bodies as well as the skills required for enlightening sexual relations with their future spouses. After the initiation, members of the School would do as instructed by the guidebook of the Dongzhen huangshu as a way to enlightenment. This research is expected to lead to a deeper understanding of the religious self-identity and the religious life of the Celestial Masters School converts. |