Published 2025-01-01
“…This study investigates how religious rhetoric and popular mobilisation contributed to the preservation and propagation of Daoist traditions at the mountain Maoshan 茅山 from late Qing to Republican China (1864–1937), focusing particularly on the corpus of religious texts related to Maoshan and its
tutelary gods, the Three Mao Lords 三茅真君. Through a detailed analysis of primary sources, including editions of the <i>Maoshan Gazetteer</i>, liturgical manuals such as the scripture (<i>jing</i> 經), litany (<i>chan</i> 懺), and performative texts such as the precious scroll (<i>baojuan</i> 寶卷) of the Three Mao Lords, this study identifies six key rhetoric strategies employed by Maoshan Daoists, using the acronym IMPACT: (1) Incorporation: Appending miracle tales (<i>lingyan ji</i> 靈驗記) and divine medicine (<i>xianfang</i> 仙方) to address immediate and practical needs of contemporary society; (2) Memory: Preserving doctrinal continuity while invoking cultural nostalgia to reinforce connections to traditional values and heritage; (3) Performance: Collaborating with professional storytellers to disseminate vernacularized texts through oral performances, thereby reaching broader audiences including the illiterate. (4) Abridgment: Condensing lengthy texts into concise and accessible formats; (5) Canonization: Elevating the divine status of
deities through spirit-writing, thereby enhancing their religious authority; (6) Translation: Rendering classical texts into vernacular language for broader accessibility. …”
Get full text
Article
