Title

A Study of the Communal Chiao Ritual Documents of the School of Practicing Both Daoism and Exorcism in Taiwan: A Seven-day Chiao Ceremony Performed by the Keelung Guangyuan Altar for Songshan Cihui Temple in 2005

Author

Tsung-hui Hsieh

Genre

Article  

Pages

181-225   

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese

Key words

Daoism, Daoist ritual documents, the chiao ritual, the School of Practicing Both Daoism and Exorcism     

Abstract

    The School of Practicing Both Daoism and Exorcism includes the Zhengyi School and the Third Matriarch School of Lu-shan. Its practioners serve as liturgical specialists only for the Chiao sacrifice, not for the salvation of the dead. Although scholars have focused on its origins and liturgy, there have been no comprehensive studies of the documents used in the rituals. In this paper, I discuss relevant Daoist ritual documents and analyze the Keelung Guangyuan Altar's seven-day chiao ceremony which was performed at Songshan Cihui Temple in 2005. In that particalar year, they integrated a traditional five-day chiao ritual into the liturgy. I then compare the documents from the 2005 performance with those from the five-day Chiao of the Inauguration List in the “Zhuanglin Xudaozang." Furthermore, I investigate the new version of the ritual documents used by the head priest, Li You-kun, in light of actual needs.

    This paper is divided into five sections. The introduction focuses on clarifying the meaning of relevant Daoist ritual documents. The second section discusses structure of the rituals and the relationship between the rituals and documents. The third section analyzes the form and function of petitions documents. The fourth section investigates pass permits (die 牒), talismans and announcing documents. The conclusion discusses the meaning of these Daoist ritual documents, their origins and their transformations.