Chinese Studies Symposium(Vol.40 No.2)

CCS Seminar The Center for Chinese Studies held a seminar on May 1, 2009, for the visiting scholar Professor Poul Andersen, an Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at Hawaii University, U.S.A. Professor Andersen spoke on 'The Scripture of the Jade Pivot and Daoist Iconography.' Professor Li Feng-mao, a research fellow at the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, chaired the seminar. The seminar focused on the Scripture of the Jade Pivot (Yushu jing), one of modern Daoism's most important texts, and the main scriptural expression of the Thunder Rites of the Shenxiao tradition. The scripture is the central vehicle of the Celestial Worthy Who Transforms All through the Sound of Thunder, Leisheng puhua tianzun, the supreme Daoist god of thunder, and appears to have been written around 1200. It was revered throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties, not only by Daoists, but also by self-declared Confucians, and not least in circles dedicated to self-cultivation framed by the notion of the unity of the Three Religions. To this day, it continues to be one of the most important scriptures chanted, and indeed performed, as part of many different kinds of Daoist liturgy.