The Idea of Repentance in Four Contemporary Daoist Liturgical Texts on the Rituals for Feeding and Sublimating Ghosts.

This paper examines the Daoist concept of repentance based on four contemporary liturgical texts, commonly used in the Guangdong and Zhejiang areas, of rituals for feeding and sublimating ghosts. The four liturgical texts are Xiantian hushi jilian youke ... (Prior Heaven Ritual for Feeding and Refining the Ghosts), Qingxuan jiyao liandu shishi keyi ... (Qingxuan Ritual for Feeding and Subliming Ghosts), Taiji Lingbao jilian keyi ... (Ritual for Oblatory Refinement of Taiji Lingbao), and Taishang Quanzhen Penghu liandu jinji fashi keyi ... (Ritual for Distributing Food and Sublimation of Penghu). Sublimation rituals find their roots in the Yellow Register Retreat ... of the Six Dynasties through the Tang period, in which retribution was one of the key concepts in the understanding of transgressions; and with retribution comes the fear of indictment and suffering in hell. Beyond this, rites in which orphan ghosts are summoned to listen to teachings about penitence are found in all four liturgical texts. Penitential litanies of the following structure can also be postulated in the texts: (1) Pronouncing the kulou's ... (skeleton) lamentations; (2) Setting the orphan ghosts free from worldly attachments; (3) Repentance litany; and (4) Release from indictment. Through structural and textual analysis of the penitential litanies in the four sublimation liturgical texts, the author of this paper argues that salvation of ghosts and lost souls hinges essentially on the ritualization of penitential teachings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]