The Writ of the Three Sovereigns: From Local Lore to Institutional Daoism

Author:

Dominic Steavu

Publication date:

October 2020

Publisher:

University of Hawaii Press

Abstract:

In 648 CE, Tang imperial authorities collected every copy of the Writ of the Three Sovereigns (Sanhuang wen 三皇文) from the four corners of the empire and burned them. The formidable talismans at its core were said not only to extend their owners’ lifespan and protect against misfortune, but also propel them to stratospheric heights of power, elevating them to the rank of high minister or even emperor. Only two or three centuries earlier, this controversial text was unknown in most of China with the exception of Jiangnan in the south, where it was regarded as essential local lore. In the span of a few generations, the Writ of the Three Sovereigns would become the cornerstone of one of the three basic corpora of the Daoist Canon, a pillar of Daoism—and a perceived threat to the state.

This study, the only book-length treatment of the Writ of the Three Sovereigns in any language, traces the text’s transition from local tradition to empire-wide institutional religion. The volume begins by painting the social and historical backdrop against which the scripture emerged in early fourth-century Jiangnan before turning to its textual history. It reflects on the work’s centerpiece artifacts, the potent talismans in celestial script, as well as other elements of its heritage, namely alchemical elixirs and “true form” diagrams. During the fifth and sixth centuries, with Daoism coalescing into a formal organized religion, the Writ of the Three Sovereigns took on a symbolic role as a liturgical token of initiation while retaining its straightforward language of sovereignty and strong political overtones, which eventually led to its prohibition. The writ endured, however, and later experienced a revival as its influence spread as far as Japan.

Despite its central role in the development of institutional Daoism, the Writ of the Three Sovereigns has remained an understudied topic in Chinese history. Its fragmentary textual record combined with the esoteric nature of its content have shrouded it in speculation. This volume provides a lucid reconstruction of the text’s hidden history and enigmatic practices while shedding light on its contributions to the religious landscape of medieval China.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

The Writ in early medieval southern China

The religious life of objects: the talismans of the Writ and their surviving fragments

Beyond talismans: alchemy, charts, and meditation in relation to the Writ

From local lore to universal Dao: the cavern of divinity and the early Daoist canon

The Writ and its corpus: the rise and fall of the cavern of divinity in institutional Daoism

Conclusion

Appendix 1: List of variant titles for the Writ of the three sovereigns (Sanhuang wen) in early medieval sources

Appendix 2: Synopsis of the principal Six dynasties sources containing fragments of the Writ of the three sovereigns (Sanhuang wen) and its oral instructions

Appendix 3: Comparative list of talismans from the "essential instructions from the western citadel on the great characters in celestial script of the Three sovereigns" (Xicheng yaojue sanhuang tianwen dazi) and the "essential functions of the Three sovereigns" (Sanhuang yaoyong pin)

Appendix 4: Comparative inventory of transmission gages associated with the Writ of the three sovereigns (Sanhuang wen)

Dictionnaire biographique du haut Moyen Âge chinois：Culture, politique et religion de la fin des Han à la veille des Tang (IIIe-VIe siècles)

Co-editors:

Damien Chaussende, François Martin

Publisher : 

Les Belles Lettres

Publication date:

July 2020

Abstract:

Le haut Moyen Âge de la Chine, qui s’étend du IIIe au VIe siècle de notre ère, fut une période particulièrement troublée sur le plan politique. Elle vit en effet s’établir sur le sol chinois une vingtaine d’États plus ou moins éphémères, dont certains furent fondés par des populations étrangères venues des steppes nordiques. Ces quelques siècles n’en furent pas moins extrêmement riches et bouillonnants du point de vue culturel. Ils virent en particulier le bouddhisme s’acclimater au sol chinois et le taoïsme se constituer en véritable religion organisée. La littérature connut d’importants développements, notamment dans le domaine de la poésie et de la prosodie. L’art bouddhique connut un âge d’or et donna lieu à de splendides réalisations sous la dynastie des Wei du Nord. La culture de cour qui se constitua dans les États chinois du Sud exerça quant à elle une influence profonde sur les arts, qui devait se maintenir pendant des siècles, notamment sous les Tang.

Pourtant, cette période si importante est peu connue en dehors des milieux sinologiques, mis à part les célèbres Trois royaumes. Le présent dictionnaire comble ainsi un vide dans le monde éditorial. Joignant le plaisir de la lecture au sérieux de la documentation, il est indispensable à tous ceux qui, du simple curieux, sinisant ou non, au chercheur déjà confirmé, se proposent d’acquérir des connaissances ou d’approfondir celles qu’ils ont déjà sur une période foisonnante qui n’est pas sans rappeler, à de multiples points de vue, le bas empire romain et l’Europe des États barbares.

Table of Contents:

Remerciements

Avant propos

Note sur l’utilisation du dictionnaire

Contributeurs

Liste des notices par sujet

Dictionnaire de A à Z

Annexes

– Les dynasties chinoises

– Schéma dynastique du haut Moyen Âge

– Tableau des principaux États « barbares » de la période

– Diagramme des États de la période 300-440

– Chronologie fondamentale

– Glossaire des termes chinois

Bibliographie

Index des titres de textes, d’ouvrages et de peintures

Index général

Table des cartes

1. Les Trois royaumes (année 230)

2. Provinces de la dynastie des Jin de l’Ouest (année 280)

3. Les Jin de l’Est et les Qin antérieurs (année 382)

4. Les Song et les Wei du Nord (année 449)

5. Les Qi du Sud et les Wei du Nord (année 497)

6. Les Liang, les Wei de l’Est et les Wei de l’Ouest (année 546)

7. Les Chen, les Qi du Nord et les Zhou du Nord (année 572)

8. Les Sui (année 612)

9. La République populaire de Chine (de nos jours)

[Dissertation] Funerary Lists from Early Chinese Shaft Tombs

Author:
Hui, SUN

School:
Heidelberg University

Submitted:
2019

Abstract:
This dissertation presents a new approach to the whole corpus of funerary lists from early Chinese shaft tombs (dating from the late 5th century BCE to the 1st century CE). While existing research almost exclusively interprets them as “tomb inventory lists”, I provide an alternative interpretation. Combining codicological, philological and archaeological data with archaeological and ethno-sociological theories, I argue that the lists were created as tools for short-term administration of material components (sometimes also animals and personal resources) in certain actions before the entombment.

Chapter 1 introduces the Chinese funerary lists discovered to date and offers an overview of the scholarship on the creation and usage of the lists from the early shaft tombs. Chapter 2 guides the reader through the archaeological theory of “field of action”, which I adapt slightly for my analysis of the creation and usage of the early lists. The introduction of this theory is followed by the establishment of a hypothetical model of the early Chinese funerary cycle based on transmitted texts. Furthermore, a combination of this theory with the classic ethnological concept of rites de passage will clarify the motivation of the creation of those lists. Chapter 3 presents a detailed case study of the lists from tomb no. 1 at Leigudun 擂鼓墩, the tomb of the renowned Marquis Yi of Zeng (died ca. 433 BCE) 曾侯乙. Chapter 4 introduces the perspectives of the analytical device “field of action” for approaching the remaining lists. In addition, the two latter chapters indicate that the lists considerably complement the hypothetical model of the funerary cycle. Finally, as a conclusion, the lists were no “tomb inventory lists”. Instead, they were created and used in short-term administration of certain fields of action. None of them describes the final organisational pattern of the tomb goods and most of them do not even describe the final organisational pattern of the resources in the individual pre-entombment actions. Their creation and usage were motivated by the wishes to smoothly transform the status of the deceased and the bereaved through various rites de passage. 

Therefore, my discoveries do not only contribute to the rational understanding of the funerary practices involving those lists, but also provide the basis for a fundamental and necessary reorientation in the philological and archaeological research of those lists.

[Dissertation] The Fallible Body in Early Medieval China

Author: 
Li, Xiaoxuan

Degree date: 
2020

School:
Harvard University

Abstract:
This dissertation examines one of the most important assumptions inherited by early medieval China: that the physical body functions as a valid and readable source of knowledge about individuals and the world they inhabit. It considers the continuity and evolution of this assumption during the period of the Six Dynasties (3rd - 6th centuries CE), and argues that it is contested across various genres of textual representation. I identify the emergence of a “fallible” body in three clusters of texts. First, I discuss how the late third century idea of “knowing others” (zhiren 知人) diverges from an earlier physiognomic tradition, and I interpret several rhapsodies (fu 賦) in the context of this zhiren paradigm. I explain their choice of rhetorical strategies, most centrally the conceit of a ventriloquized body part, as rooted in a challenge against the regime of interpreting one’s physical appearance for ability and status. Second, I examine the relationship between representations of the female body and knowledge of interior subjectivity in the rhapsody tradition from the Han (206 BCE-220 CE) through the Liang (502-557 CE), and locate in the shi (詩) poetry of the fifth and sixth centuries a new interest in the disjunction between the inherited literary discourse of this relationship and its basis in economic and social realities. Lastly, I discuss the motif of the anomalous body in zhiguai (志怪) collections, and through a comparison between Buddhist apologetic sources with more heterogenous compilations, show how certain tales question the status of bodily markings as evidence for both narrative and moral resolution.

China’s Northern Wei Dynasty, 386-535: The Struggle for Legitimacy

Author:
Puning Liu

Publisher:
Routledge

Publication date:
December 22, 2020

Abstract:
The Northern Wei was a dynasty which originated outside China and ruled northern China when the south of China was ruled by a series of dynasties which originated inside China.

Both during the time that the Northern Wei dynasty was in power and over many centuries subsequently, the legitimacy of the Northern Wei dynasty has been questioned. This book outlines the history of the Northern Wei dynasty, including its origins and the history of its southern rivals; considers the practices adopted by both the Northern Wei dynasty and its rivals to establish legitimacy; and examines the debates which preoccupied Chinese scholars subsequently.

The book casts light on traditional ideas about legitimate rule in China, ideas which have enduring relevance as tradition continues to be very significant in contemporary China.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1. History of the Northern Wei and the Southern Dynasties
Chapter 2. Establishing Legitimacy: The Northern Wei’s Practices
Chapter 3. Preserving Legitimacy: The Southern Dynasties’ Practices
Chapter 4. Tang Scholars’ Views on the Northern Wei’s Legitimacy
Chapter 5. Song Scholars’ Views on the Northern Wei’s Legitimacy
Chapter 6. Ming and Qing Scholars’ Views on the Northern Wei’s Legitimacy
Chapter 7. Traditional Chinese Views of Legitimacy and its Evolution
Epilogue

六朝隋唐文史哲論集Ⅰ : 人・家・学術

Author: 

吉川忠夫 (Tadao Yoshikawa)

Publisher: 

法藏館

Publication date:

November 2020

Abstract:
六朝隋唐期の学術史・宗教史研究にひときわ輝かしい成果を著わしてきた著者がみずから論考を厳選して編んだ待望の論文集。学術史を明らかにする二二篇を収録。

Table of Contents:

緒　言
序　章　六朝隋唐時代の社会と思想

第Ⅰ部　人 と 家
一　章　歴史のなかの伯夷叔斉
二　章　薄葬の思想
三　章　皇甫謐の「篤終論」
四　章　陶淵明の「戒子書」をめぐって
五　章　此れも亦た人の子なり
——六朝時代における「四海の内皆な兄弟」の思想——
六　章　読「庭誥」
七　章　梁の徐勉の「誡子書」
八　章　嶺南の欧陽氏
九　章　李泌と『鄴侯家伝』
十　章　中唐の韋渠牟
——道士として、僧として、また官人として——
十一章　劉 軻 伝││中唐時代史への一つの試み││

第Ⅱ部　学　　術
一　章　六朝時代における家学とその周辺
二　章　鄭玄の学塾
三　章　後漢末における荊州の学術
四　章　蜀における讖緯の学の伝統
五　章　汲冢書発見前後
六　章　裴駰の『史記集解』
七　章　北魏孝文帝借書攷
八　章　島夷と索虜のあいだ
——典籍の流伝を中心とした南北朝文化交流史——
九　章　元行沖とその「釈疑」をめぐって
十　章　韓愈と大顚