Lord of the Three in One : The Spread of a Cult in Southeast China / Kenneth Dean.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dean, Kenneth, 1956- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lin, Zhao'en, 1517-1598.

Lin, Zhao'en.

Cults--China--Fujian Sheng--History.

Cults.

Confucianism--China--Rituals.

Confucianism.

Buddhism--China--Rituals.

Buddhism.

Taoism--China--Rituals.

Taoism.

China--Religious life and customs.

China.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (421 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [1998]

Summary:

Lin Zhao'en (1517-1598) set out to popularize Confucianism by combining Confucian studies with Daoist inner alchemical techniques and Buddhist Chan philosophy into something he called the Three in One Teachings. Despite periods of clandestine activity since its inception, the Three in One cult has undergone a remarkable revival in post-Mao China: today Lin is worshipped throughout Southeast China and Southeast Asia as Lord of the Three in One in over a thousand temples by tens of thousands of cult initiates. Many of the temples have been restored since 1979, when China began to experience an explosive resurgence of popular culture and religion. In this book, based on ten years of field work, Kenneth Dean vividly documents the reemergence of this cult, which seeks to transmit a universal vision of truth yet retains a strong local appeal through its healing rituals and spirit mediumism. Although the Chinese government still tries to suppress these resurgences in the interest of modernization, the cult's locally based networks appear in this account as unstoppable social forces.Dean explores the organization and transmission of the Three in One's unique cultural vision, the reception of this vision, and the construction of subjectivity within a vibrant ritual tradition. Outlining such features as inner alchemical meditation, scripture and iconography, ritual practice, and spirit mediumism, he demonstrates the cult's transformative potential as well as its contemporaneity and dynamism. Rural Chinese popular culture as a whole emerges here as highly complex and always evolving--traditional and resilient.

Contents:

Cover Page

Half-title Page

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication Page

Contents

List Of Illustrations And Tables

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter One: Ritual-Events

Chapter Two: The Apotheosis of Lin Zhao'en

Chapter Three: The Early Disciples

Chapter Four: Inner Alchemy, Scriptures, and Liturgies

Chapter Five: The Three in One in the Qing and Republican Eras

Chapter Six: Ritual Traditions of the Three in One

Chapter Seven: Current Cultural Range of the Three in One

Chapter Eight: The Three in One in Contemporary China

Conclusion

Appendix 1: Editions of Lin Zhao'en's Writings

Appendix 2: The Chart of the Inner Landscape of the Nine Stages

Appendix 3: Summary of the Xiawunijing

Appendix 4: Scriptures to Popular Deities: The God of Theater

Appendix 5: Ritual Documents in the Wubentang Guitiao

Appendix 6: Ritual Calendars

Appendix 7: Liturgies: The Purification of a Stage

Appendix 8: Ritual Spells and Visualizations

Appendix 9: The Evolution of the Dragon Mountain Hall

Appendix 10: Chinese Text of the Bentijing

Appendix 11: List of Three in One Books and Manuscripts

Glossary

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Dean, Kenneth Lord of the Three in One

ISBN:

9780691261218

0691261210

OCLC:

1414457080