Book Review. Tam Wai Lun* Christine Mollier Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face: Scripture, Ritual and Iconographic Exchange in Medieval China

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1 BIBLID (2009)27:2 pp 漢學研究第 27 卷第 2 期民國 98 年 6 月 Book Review Tam Wai Lun* Christine Mollier Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face: Scripture, Ritual and Iconographic Exchange in Medieval China Honolulu: University of Hawai i Press, 2008, 241 pages. ISBN: In Mollier s book Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face, there is a telling picture of the eighth-century Sichuan Taoist Marvelous Mystery Temple (Xuanmiao guan 玄妙觀 ) where Śākyamuni and Laozi sit next to each other on the altar. Mollier reminds us of another similar scene on the Mountain of the King of Medicine (Yaowang shan 藥王山 ) in Shānxi 陜西 Province, dating back to the Six Dynasties. Worshipping Buddhist and Taoist gods together in the same temple is, indeed, a common phenomenon in China especially at the village level. Fieldworkers in a Chinese village might have also encountered hanging ritual portraits of the pantheon showing Śākyamuni sitting on the top of the Three Purities (Sanqing 三清 ) or the other way round, belonging to Manuscript received: February 25, 2009; manuscript approved: April 22, 收稿日期 2009 年2 月25 日通過刊登日期 2009年 4月 22日 * Tam Wai Lun is a professor in the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. 作者譚偉倫係香港中文大學文化及宗教研究系教授 365

2 366 漢學研究第 27 卷第 2 期 some village ritual specialists. These village ritual specialists may be Taoist or Buddhist, but rituals performed by them share a similar framework,1 most prominently found in the jiao 醮 ritual (communal sacrifice). They all present memorials to their deities, a practice that comes from the Taoist tradition known as shangbiao 上表,2 and perform baichan 拜懺 or the repentance ritual, a term derived from the Sanskrit word Kşama.3 It was not unusual in China for a ritual specialist to switch his identity from Taoist to Buddhist, and close interaction between the Buddhist and Taoist traditions in Chinese religious practice is, thus, a commonsensical fact. Scripture, ritual and iconographic exchange between the two religions is a fact that is widely known. How the exchange occurred and under what circumstances is a research topic that has not been explored in depth and is worth studying. In this connection, Mollier s book, Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face, is most welcome. Mollier claims that she has adopted a new approach to the study of Buddho-Taoist interaction. She has concentrated on a type of text sometimes known as apocryphal, which exists in both Buddhist and Taoist versions. These texts can be found in both the Buddhist and Taoist canons with similar titles and almost identical content. Although her main research question remains: What are the circumstances surrounding the ongoing exchange and active competition among Buddhists and Taoists in China?, Mollier does not ignore the perennial questions: Are the parallel texts originally Buddhist or Taoist?, Who borrowed from whom? The following are some of her answers to the above questions. Mollier s study focuses on a dozen texts which are grouped under five topics, as below. 1 See Kenneth Dean, Taoist Ritual and Popular Cults of Southeast China (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993). 2 See Kristofer M. Schipper, The Written Memorial in Taoist Ceremonies, in Arthur Wolf ed., Religion and Ritual in Chinese Society (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1974), pp Kuo Li-ying, Confession et contrition dans le bouddhisme chinois du Ve au Xe siècle (Paris: École française d Extrême-Orient, 1994).

3 Tam Wai Lun Christine Mollier, Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face The Heavenly Kitchens A doubling-up of the text on the Heavenly Kitchens exists in the Sūtra of the Three Kitchens Preached by the Buddha (Foshuo sanchu jing 佛說三廚經 ) and the Scripture of the Five Kitchens Revealed by Laozi (Laozi shuo wuchu jing 老子說五廚經 ). The Buddhist versions of the text on the Heavenly Kitchens are found in the Dunhuang library, and there are also eleventh and thirteenth century versions preserved in Japan. The Taoist version of the text can be dated to the seventh to eighth century. The interaction between the two religions on the topic took place during the Tang and the Five Dynasties. As pointed out by Mollier, the Heavenly Kitchens belongs to the ancient tradition of the psychophysical arts of longevity and immortality in China. The method of the Kitchens consists of fasting, meditation, recitations of incantations and invocations that enable one to have no further need of mundane food. It is well known that Buddhism fully emphasizes the elimination of any kind of worldly attachment, including the attachment to food. Buddhist scriptures also speak of celestial nourishment that is caused to appear by one s power of meditation. The foundation of the ritual method of the Heavenly Kitchens taught in the above scriptures is laid out in a poem in five strophes; this is perfectly logical in the Taoist text for the five Kitchens, but quite problematic in the Buddhist sūtra where the same poem describes a three Kitchen method. Mollier is, therefore, right to conclude that this Heavenly Kitchen technique with an obvious Taoist flavor was rewrapped in Buddhist packaging by the Buddhists, constituting an unmistakable case of Buddhist plagiarism. 2. In Pursuit of the Sorcerers It is well established that sorcery has a long history in China. Scholars generally agree that sorcery is one of the characteristic afflictions of the final years of the Dharma according to the Buddhist tradition. Buddhism, therefore, is obsessed with ritual counterattacks and antidotes to sorcery. Taoism, on the other hand, does not devote much attention to sorcery. Mollier studies two texts about undoing spells, the Buddhist Conjuration of Bewitchments Preached by

4 368 漢學研究第 27 卷第 2 期 the Buddha (Foshuo zhoumei jing 佛說咒媚經 ) and the Taoist Scripture for Unbinding Curses Revealed by the Most High Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun shuo jieshi zhouzu jing 太上老君說解釋咒詛經 ). The Buddhist text on conjuration of bewitchments dates to the end of the Six Dynasties or the beginning of the Sui. The Taoist text for unbinding curses dates to the early Tang dynasty. They are similar in content but not perfectly equivalent to one another. As demonstrated by Mollier, Taoism distinguished itself radically from the medicalized approach privileged by Buddhism in dealing with exorcism. Mollier concludes that Taoists can not be accused of plagiarism; we can only say that based on historical, philological and ritual evidence, there was a textual exchange between the two religions regarding undoing spells. More precisely the Taoist scripture is a Tang-dynasty barbarian conversion (huahu 化胡 )genre4 response to the Buddhist anti-sorcery scriptures. 3. Augmenting the Life Account Augmenting the life account is a method taught in the Sūtra to Increase the Account (Yisuan jing 益算經 ) which has two versions in both Buddhist and Taoist traditions. On the Buddhist side, we have the Sūtra of the Divine Talismans of the Seven Thousand Buddhas to increase lifespan Preached by the Buddha (Foshuo qiqian fo shenfu yisuan jing 佛說七千佛神符益算經 ) and the Sūtra of the Divine Talismans to Increase the Account (Foshuo Yisuan shenfu jing 佛說益算神符經 ). On the Taoist side, we have the Marvelous Scripture for Prolonging Life and for Increasing the Account Revealed by the Most High Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun shuo changsheng yisuan miaojing 太上老君說長生益算妙經 ) and the Marvelous Scripture of the Divine Talismans to Increase Lifespan Revealed by the Most High Lord Lao (Taishang Laojun shuo Yisuan shenfu miaojing 太上老君說益算神符妙經 ). 4 Mollier discovered close similarities between the Taoist Scripture for Unbinding Curses and the huahu tradition text the Marvelous Scripture of Supreme Lingbao on Laozi Converting the Barbarians (Taishang lingbao Laozi huahu miaojing 太上靈寶老子化胡妙經 ) discovered at Dunhuang.

5 Tam Wai Lun Christine Mollier, Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face 369 The Buddhist Sūtra to Increase Lifespan is preserved in the collections from Dunhuang and is mentioned in a Buddhist catalogue of scriptures compiled in 695. Mollier believes that while the transmission of two Taoist texts on increasing the account to Zhang Daoling 張道陵 during the second century C.E. is fictitious, the tradition of the two texts was drawn from the Zhengyi 正一 rituals of Six Dynasties Taoism. The essence of the method to augment the life account according to the Yisuan jing consists of an invocation of a group of famous Taoist deities, the Generals of the Six Jia, and a list of the stars and planets, a litany for personal protection and fifteen talismans with the purpose of prolonging the lives of the faithful up to 120 years. This is obviously more Taoist than Buddhist. Mollier concludes that we have here a patent case of purloined scripture, an outright copy of a Taoist work despite the existence of Chinese Buddhist Tantric rites that use talismanic seals of the deity Ucchuşam to prolong life in the eighth century. 4. Under Stellar Protection Another doubling-up of texts can be found in the tradition of the Great Dipper or Beidou. The texts involved are the Taoist Supreme Scripture of the Great Dipper of Mysterious Power Destiny and Prolonging Life (Taishang xuanling beidou benming yansheng zhenjing 太上玄靈北斗本命延生真經 ) and the Buddhist Sūtra on Prolonging Life through Worship of the Seven Stars of the Northern Dipper Preached by the Buddha (Foshuo beidou qixing yanming jing 佛說北斗七星延命經 ), best known by its abridged title as the Great Bear Sūtra or Great Dipper Sūtra (Beidou jing 北斗經 ). As is the case for the Scripture to Increase the Account (Yisuan jing 益算經 ), the principal objective of the talismanic tradition of the Great Dipper is to assure the prolongation and preservation of the lives of the faithful. Based on the research of Herbert Franke,5 Mollier points out that the Buddhist Sūtra of the 5 Herbert Franke, The Taoist Elements in the Buddhist Great Bear Sūtra (Pei-tou ching), Asia Major 3.1(1990):

6 370 漢學研究第 27 卷第 2 期 Great Dipper was in effect redacted in China during the late thirteenth or early fourteenth century on the basis of a Taoist prototype two or three centuries older. The Buddhist cult of the Beidou is, therefore, a result of efforts made by esoteric Buddhist masters in China to integrate the worship of the Great Dipper into their rites for longevity and protection of both individual and state. Mollier agrees with Henrik Sørensen s view that the Buddhist version of the Scripture of the Great Dipper could have been in circulation in the middle of the eighth century. Sørensen bases his argument on citations of the Scripture of the Great Dipper in Japanese liturgical manuals of the Shingon School and iconographic encyclopedias of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.6 5. Guanyin in a Taoist Guise It is generally agreed that the religious and iconographic properties of the Taoist deity Heavenly Venerable Savior from Suffering were patterned on the famous Buddhist deity Guanyin. The Tang text Marvelous Scripture of the Great Unity, the Savior from Suffering and Protector of Life (Taiyi jiuku hushen miaojing 太一救苦護身妙經 ) is a Taoist adaptation of the Pumen pin (Universal Gateway) chapter in the Sūtra of the Lotus flower of the Wonderful Law (Miaofa lianhua jing 妙法蓮華經 ) first translated by Dharmaraksa in the Chinese capital of Luoyang in 266 C.E. In Mollier s own words, the Taoist author appropriates the Buddhist bestseller for their own ends. Mollier s treatment of the apocryphal texts collected from Dunhuang and monastic libraries of Japan in her book is eye-opening. She has included a synoptic translation of most of the texts in question making her book a very useful reference. Her book demonstrates well the Buddho-Taoist exchange in medieval China. Medieval China covers a period of over ten centuries from the 5th to the 16th century. Putting Mollier s study in terms of a more 6 Henrik Sørensen, The Worship of the Great Dipper in Korean Buddhism, in Henrik Sørensen ed., Religions in Traditional Korea (Copenhagen: Seminar for Buddhist Studies, 1995), pp

7 Tam Wai Lun Christine Mollier, Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face 371 precise periodization of Chinese dynasties, it immediately becomes clear that a discussion of Chinese religion in the Six Dynasties up to the Ming and Qing would be too much to deal with. In fact, the Buddho-Taoist interactions that occurred in the texts that Mollier has studied mostly date to the Tang period. Having said that, Mollier s book remains a sophisticated work on parallel texts as she helps us to move beyond two current models of dealing with Buddho-Taoist interaction in early medieval China. The first is a polemic debate model of Buddhist and Taoist confrontation from the fourth century up to the early Tang, exemplified by the famous six-century text Laughing at the Tao (Xiaodao lun 笑道論 ) by Zhen Luan 甄鸞.7 The story of the confrontation between the two religions finally brings us to the well-known Buddhist persecution that took place between 842 and 846. The other model is represented by Bokenkamp s recent book on Taoism and the concept of rebirth in China which argues rigorously against the Buddhist conquest of China or the Buddhist influence on early Taoism. 8 Mollier instead demonstrates how the two traditions intermingled with each other through continuous mutual borrowing. In her conclusion, Mollier says that her book brings new perspectives on the religious situation in medieval China. It introduces us to the mantic technicians in medieval society who were among the main readers of the texts she is studying. Mollier calls them a third class of specialists belonging to the milieux of astrologers, diviners, medicine men and other experts in para7 See Livia Kohn, Laughing at the Tao: Debates among Buddhists and Taoists in Medieval China (Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1995). 8 See Stephen R. Bokenkamp, Ancestors and Anxiety: Daoism and the Birth of Rebirth in China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007) in which he convincingly argues that there was indeed a Taoist concept of rebirth quite different from, and existing before the Buddhist concept of samsara. (See especially p.162, 164, 171.) The Buddhist conquest of China refers to the renowned work of Erik Zürcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China, 2 vols. (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1959) and the Buddhist influence on early Taoism refers to his article Buddhist Influence on Taoist Scripture in T oung-pao 66, nos.1-3(1980):

8 372 漢學研究第 27 卷第 2 期 religious techniques. They traversed the permeable boundaries separating Buddhism and Taoism without losing their original features. Understanding them will, therefore, bring us closer to the social and cultural realities of Chinese religious life. Of the scriptural, ritual and iconographic exchange between Taoism and Buddhism, ritual exchange was the richest, especially in the villages where most Chinese lived. If we extend ourselves beyond the medieval period, in addition to the lay professionals of the traditional scientific practices (shushu 術數 ) suggested by Mollier, there is another group of specialists which are equally if not more useful in enabling us to clearly see the Buddho-Taoist exchange and the shifting boundaries between Taoism and Buddhism. They are the groups of ritual specialists known by different names in different regions such as Sigong 師公, Duangong 端公, Xianghua heshang 香花和尚, or in many cases known simply as Taoists (Daoshi 道士 ). Our usual conception of these village ritual specialists may be that they belonged to the Zhengyi tradition. In reality, they consisted of a combination of Buddhist incense and flower monks (the Xianghua heshang)9 that performed funeral rituals and of Lüshan Taoists that performed jiao 醮 rituals prevalent in many southeast Chinese villages. There is also an unique form of popular Buddhism called the Teaching of Pu an (Pu an jiao 普庵教 ) which very often goes with the Lüshan tradition to give expression to a local form of ritual tradition. We have found Buddhist who performed jiao rituals and Taoists who performed gongde 功德 rituals, and some who did both, even changing religions to do so. Even the distinction between civil and military rituals and the usual division of labor between Buddhist and Taoist ritual specialists seems to be problematic. We have found, for instance, Pu an Buddhist priests doing military rituals 9 Tam, Yik Fai 譚翼輝, A Historiographic and Ethnographic Study of Xianghua Heshang (Incense and Flower Monks) in the Meixian Region (Ph.D. dissertation, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California, 2005).

9 Tam Wai Lun Christine Mollier, Buddhism and Taoism Face to Face 373 and Taoist priests always performing the civil as well as the military rituals.10 Ritual exchange and mutual borrowing between the two religions is extremely rich. In studying ritual exchange we have to go beyond the use of literary texts. Mollier s book, however, will remain a basic required reading for students of Chinese religion in the years to come. 10 Tam, Wai Lun 譚偉倫, Zhongguo dongnanbu jiaoyi zhi sizhong xingtai 中國東南部醮儀之四種形態 (Four Modes of the Jiao Ritual in Southeast China) in Lishi renleixue xuekan 歷史人類學學刊 (Journal of History and Anthropology) 3.2 (October 2005): 1-26.

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