A Study of the Guangdong Daoist Ritual Text of the Xiantian hushi jilian youke: Its Origin and Transmission.

This paper examines how Sanyuan gong in Guangzhou managed to produce a Daoist ritual text on shishi (offering of food) and liandu (salvation through sublimation) that has been and still is commonly used in the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau areas since the early Qianlong and Tongzhi periods. It is apparent, on the one hand, that Sanyuan gong had compiled the Xiantian hushi jilian youke (Liturgy for Anterior Heavens for Tending the Food to Save and Sublimating [the Souls of the Deceased] in Darkness) based on the Taiji Lingbao jilian keyi (Ritual for Sacrificing to and Sublimating [the Souls of the Deceased], in the Lingbao Tradition of Taiji) of the Zhengyi tradition of Suzhou. It is also known, on the other hand, that the Daoist masters of Sanyuan gong had taken up various liturgical practices from the Sazu tieguan liandu shishifa (Method for Offering of Food and Alchemical Salvation with the Iron Bottle of Patriarch Sa [Shoujian]) of the Quanzhen School. This paper therefore argues that the Xiantian hushi jilian youke stands out uniquely and distinguishes itself from the Taiji Lingbao jilian keyi. Building upon the study of the Xiantian hushi jilian youke by Chen Yaoting, this paper examines the text from a historical perspective, the finding of which does not support Chen's inference of the compilation of Xiantian hushi jilian youke being completed by the Daoist master Jin Yunzhong (fl. 1224-1225) of the Southern Song period. This paper concludes that the Xiantian hushi jilian youke was produced by the Daoist masters of Sangyuan gong. The ritual structure and process had been formulated and compiled by these Daoist masters. Widely disseminated in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macau over the past fifty or so, the text was assimilated and used by many Daoist devotional organizations there. It has established itself as the most representative Daoist ritual text on shishi liandu in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]