Daily liturgy, retreats and offerings, registers and ordination, precepts, ritual movement and visualization, music, implements and festivals.
财神随华人移民出海，在不同社会走出了完全不同的轨迹。东南亚的宗教实践最厚：新加坡有以财神为主神的三巴旺财神庙与韭菜芭城隍庙的子时接财神科仪；马来西亚的财神香火与「大伯公」信仰互相渗透，新山柔佛古庙的琼帮赵大元帅是财神进入帮群共同体的例证。泰国把「财神爷」按潮州音读作 ไฉ่ซิงเอี๊ย，完全溢出华人圈成为全民求财的顶流神祇。在地化最深…
民间求财拜财神，道教内部则有一套经典与科仪系统支撑：《正统道藏》所收《道法会元》卷二三二至二四〇的「正一玄坛赵元帅秘法」是财神职能的道藏源头，其中「公平买卖，求财利宜和合，但有至公至正之事，可以对神言者，祷之无不如意」一句，为道教财神立下了「至公至正」的伦理前提；近世宫观课诵的《玄坛宝诰》称赵公明「受命玉帝，管理财源」「玄化财神天尊」；台…
正月初五「破五」迎财神是中国岁时民俗中生命力最强的一项：北宋《东京梦华录》已见岁末卖「财马」；清顾禄《清嘉录》记苏州「五日为路头神诞辰，金锣爆竹，牲醴毕陈，以争先为利市，必早起迎之，谓之接路头」，蔡云竹枝词更写活了「提防别处迎神早，隔夜匆匆抱路头」的抢财神心态。本文梳理迎财神民俗的完整链条：路头神与五路财神的关系、「财神生日」实为两套系统…
The Celestial Worthy of Numinous Treasure is the second of the Three Pure Ones. Earlier titles include the Great Lord of the Dao of Jade Dawn and the Supreme Lord of the …
The Great Emperor of the North Star of Purple Tenuity is one of the Four Sovereigns. Symbolically centred on the north celestial pole and the Purple Tenuity Enclosure, he…
The Great Heavenly Emperor of the Curved Array is one of the Four Sovereigns; his title derives from the Gouchen asterism in the traditional Purple Tenuity Enclosure. Dao…
The Imperial Sovereign of Earth is one of the Four Sovereigns, presiding over mountains and rivers, yin-yang generation and the transformation of all beings, in a Heaven-…
In November, the Chinese Taoist Association held the first Quanzhen precept-transmission ceremony since 1949 at the White Cloud Temple, Beijing; 75 ordinands from across …
In 1991, the Mansion of the Celestial Masters at Longhushan held the first Zhengyi conferral of ordination registers (shoulu) since 1949, granted to overseas Daoist commu…
After becoming a Daoist priest, Lu Xiujing (406–477) traveled widely among the famous mountains searching out Daoist scriptures; he compiled the Lingbao Jingmu (Catalogue…
Quanzhen precept-transmission ceremonies were held at Taiqing Palace, Laoshan in 2016 and at Mount Heng (Southern Peak) in 2019, among other places; together with earlier…
In the third month of the thirteenth year of Shunzhi, Wang Changyue, the seventh-generation precept master of the Quanzhen Longmen lineage, was commanded to open a precep…
Wang Changyue travelled south to transmit precepts at Yinxian Nunnery in Jinling, Zongyang Palace in Hangzhou, Mount Jingai in Huzhou, and Yuxu Palace on Wudang, establis…
Chen Liansheng, a native of Shanghai and a Zhengyi Daoist priest born into a Daoist family, who studied liturgical chanting and ritual from childhood and was already a we…
Chen Minggui, style name Youshan, was a native of Dongguan, Guangdong, a Qing-dynasty provincial graduate (juren), man of letters, and Daoist priest, who in his later yea…
Choi Chi-cheung is a Hong Kong historian, Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of History at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and one of the leading figures in the …
Ding Peiren, a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of Daoist and Religious Culture, Sichuan University, works mainly on Daoist textual studies and the hist…
Du Guangting, courtesy name Binsheng, styled Dongyingzi, was a celebrated Daoist priest and scholar of the late Tang and Five Dynasties, a native of Jinyun. He sat for th…
Emperor Gaozong of Tang, personal name Li Zhi, was the ninth son of Emperor Taizong of Tang and reigned 649–683. Since the Tang imperial house claimed descent from Laozi,…
Emperor Gaozu of Tang, Li Yuan, established the state policy of "Daoism first, Buddhism after" that held throughout the Tang, and marks the starting point of Daoism's att…
Emperor Hongwu (Zhu Yuanzhang), founder of the Ming dynasty, established the basic institutions for the administration of Daoism, his guiding principle being "to make use…
Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei, Tuoba Tao (r. 423–452), was the first emperor in Chinese history to make Daoism the state religion. In the first year of the Shiguang era (…
Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, personal name Li Longji, reigned 712–756 and was the Tang emperor most devoted to Daoism; under his rule Daoism reached its high point of the dy…
Fu Yuantian, a native of Jianyang, Sichuan, was a Daoist of the Quanzhen Longmen lineage and abbot of the Changdao Temple (Tianshi Cave) on Mount Qingcheng. He entered th…
Gao Dongli, personal name Qingyu, was the tenth-generation Vinaya Master (lüshi) of the Longmen Lineage in the Qing, and an important figure of the Jingai Mountain branch…
Ge Chaofu, a member of the Ge clan of Jurong, Danyang, in the late Eastern Jin, was a great-nephew of Ge Hong and a descendant of Ge Xuan's line. His activities are recor…
He Zhengong, a Daoist priest at the Yulong Wanshou Palace on Mount Xi in the early Southern Song and a forerunner of Jingming Daoism, personal name and dates of birth and…
Isabelle Robinet, a French sinologist and professor at the University of Provence, was a central member of the French school of Daoist studies. A student of Max Kaltenmar…
Jia Shanxiang, style name Hongju, sobriquet Pengqiuzi, was a Daoist priest of the Northern Song, a native of Pengzhou. Under Emperors Shenzong and Zhezong he successively…
Zhu Houcong, the eleventh emperor of the Ming, reigned under the era name Jiajing for forty-five years and was the Ming ruler most devoted to Daoism. After his accession …
Jiang Shuyu, courtesy name Yuanfu, a native of Yongjia, Zhejiang, was a noted Southern Song Lingbao ritualist. He once held a minor local office, then retired into Daoist…
Jin Yunzhong, a Southern Song Lingbao School Daoist priest, dates of birth and death unknown, active roughly in the early thirteenth century (his own preface to his book …
John Lagerwey, an American-born French sinologist, was a professor at the EPHE and later a professor at the Research Centre for Chinese Studies at the Chinese University …
Kou Qianzhi, styled Fuzhen, was a Daoist priest of the Northern Wei and the reformer of the Northern Celestial Masters. According to the "Treatise on Buddhism and Daoism"…
Kristofer Schipper, a Dutch sinologist, was the most important scholar of international Daoist studies in the second half of the twentieth century. A student of Max Kalte…
Lai Chi-tim is a Hong Kong scholar of Daoism, professor in the Department of Cultural and Religious Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and founding director …
Lee Fong-mao is a Taiwanese scholar of Daoism, chair professor at the Graduate Institute of Religious Studies, National Chengchi University, and research fellow (emeritus…
Li Yuhang, a native of Jurong, Jiangsu, was a Quanzhen Daoist who came from Mount Mao. As a youth he entered the priesthood at the Yuanfu Wanning Palace on Mount Mao; dur…
Lin Lingzhen, personal name Weifu, courtesy name Junzhao, sobriquet Lingzhen, was a native of Pingyang in Wenzhou. In his youth he studied for the civil examinations, but…
Liu Tailin, a priest of the Longmen Lineage of Quanzhen in the late Ming, is venerated by the Daoist clergy of Wudang Mountains as the founding patriarch of the Wudang Lo…
Liu Zhongyu is a professor and doctoral supervisor in the Department of Philosophy at East China Normal University, and a leading scholar of Daoist studies in Shanghai. H…
Lou Jinyuan, a native of Songjiang in Shanghai, was the Zhengyi (Orthodox Unity) priest of highest standing in the Qing dynasty. He entered Longhushan young and became ri…
Lu Xiujing, styled Yuande, was a celebrated Daoist priest of the Liu Song in the Southern Dynasties, a native of Dongqian, Wuxing, and a descendant of Lu Kai, chancellor …
Maruyama Hiroshi is a Japanese scholar of Daoism, professor emeritus at the University of Tsukuba, who studies Daoist ritual and Zhengyi Daoism in Taiwan. From the 1980s …
Michael Saso, an American scholar and former Jesuit, is professor emeritus of religious studies at the University of Hawai'i. In the 1960s he studied ritual protocol unde…
Min Zhiting, a native of Nanzhao, Henan, was a Daoist of the Quanzhen Huashan lineage. In 1941 he entered the priesthood at Mount Hua, studying under Liu Lixian, and late…
Nie Shidao, courtesy name Zongwei, was a Daoist priest of the late Tang and Five Dynasties, a native of Shezhou. He entered the Daoist life as a young man and received sc…
Ning Quanzhen, personal name Benli, courtesy name Daoli, a native of Kaifeng, Henan, was the actual founder of the Southern Song Lingbao Donghua School. As a youth he fle…
Ōfuchi Ninji was a Japanese scholar of Daoist textual studies, professor emeritus at Okayama University. He is known for his research on the Dunhuang Daoist manuscripts a…
Shao Yuanjie, a native of Guixi, Jiangxi, was a Daoist priest of the Shangqing Palace at Mount Longhu, who studied under Fan Wentai, Li Bofang, and others, learning the Q…
Tao Zhongwen, a native of Huanggang, Hubei, originally served as a county clerk and practiced the use of talisman water; he was recommended to the capital by Shao Yuanjie…
Terry Kleeman, an American sinologist and professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, is a specialist in the early Way of the Celestial Masters. His book A God's Own…
Wang Changyue, a native of Changzhi in Shanxi, was the patriarch of the early Qing revival of the Quanzhen Longmen Lineage. According to his own account, he traveled wide…
Wang Chuyi, a native of Ninghai, Shandong, was one of the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen, taking Wang Chongyang as his teacher in 1168. He then lived for nine years in ascet…
Wang Qinruo, courtesy name Dingguo, was a Northern Song minister who twice served as chief councillor and was counted one of the "Five Ghosts." He was the chief architect…
Wang Qizhen, a Southern Song Lingbao Donghua School Daoist priest and disciple of Ning Quanzhen, dates of birth and death unknown, active roughly from the late twelfth to…
Yin Zhiping, the sixth head of the Quanzhen teaching, renounced the household at fourteen and studied successively under the Perfected Ma Yu, Liu Chuxuan, Qiu Chuji, Hao …
Yoshioka Yoshitoyo, a Japanese scholar of Daoism, was a professor at Taishō University. In the 1940s he resided at the White Cloud Temple, Beijing, to conduct fieldwork t…
Yuan Miaozong was a Daoist priest active at the court of Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song, known for compiling the ten-fascicle Secret Essentials of the Assembled Per…
Zhang Daozhen, a Taiwan native, claims to be a grandson of Zhang Enpu and has acted in the capacity of the 64th-generation Celestial Master; after Zhang Yuanxian's death …
Zhang Enpu, the sixty-third-generation Celestial Master of Longhushan, succeeded to the office in 1924. Although Zhengyi Daoism had already lost its official status durin…
Zhang Guoxiang, the fiftieth-generation Celestial Master of Mount Longhu, headed the order during the Longqing and Wanli eras. In the thirty-fifth year of Wanli (1607), b…
Zhang Jiyu, a native of Guixi in Jiangxi, is a sixty-fifth-generation descendant of the Zhang Celestial Master house of Longhushan (as reckoned on the mainland). In the 1…
Zhang Jizong, the fifty-fourth-generation Celestial Master of Longhushan, succeeded to the office in the seventeenth year of the Kangxi reign (1678), and was among the ea…
Zhang Qingye, a native of Suzhou, Jiangsu, was a tenth-generation Daoist priest of the Longmen Lineage in the Qing, and the pioneer of Longmen Daoism in Sichuan. In his e…
Zhang Shouqing, personal name Dongyuan, courtesy name Shouqing, was a native of Yidu in Xiazhou, Hubei, and the central figure of Wudang Daoism under the Yuan. He served …
Zhang Sicheng, the thirty-ninth Celestial Master of Mount Longhu, was the eldest son of Zhang Yucai. He succeeded to the office in 1317 and was granted the additional tit…
Zhang Wanfu, a Daoist priest of the Taiqing Temple in Chang'an during the Kaiyuan era of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, a "Master of the Three Caverns," dates of birth and dea…
Zhang Yanyu, the forty-eighth-generation Celestial Master of Mount Longhu, succeeded to the office in the seventeenth year of Hongzhi (1504). He lived through the Hongzhi…
Zhang Yuanxian, a native of Guixi in Jiangxi and a cousin's son of Zhang Enpu, went to Taiwan with the army in 1949. After Zhang Enpu's death in 1969, he was put forward …
Zhang Yuchu, the forty-third-generation Celestial Master of Mount Longhu, was the most learned of the Ming Celestial Masters, succeeding to the office in the eleventh yea…
Zhang Yuqing, the forty-fourth-generation Celestial Master of Mount Longhu and younger brother of Zhang Yuchu, succeeded to the office in the eighth year of Yongle (1410)…
Zhang Zehong, a professor and doctoral supervisor at the Institute of Daoist and Religious Culture, Sichuan University, has long studied Daoist ritual protocol and the re…
Zhou Side, a native of Hangzhou, Zhejiang, was a celebrated Daoist priest of the early Ming, skilled in the rites of Wang Lingguan. During the Yongle era, the Yongle Empe…
Zhu Faman, whose Daoist name was Junxu, was a Tang-dynasty Daoist priest who resided at Yuqing Temple in Chang'an in the early Kaiyuan era of Emperor Xuanzong. He compile…
Zhu Quan, the seventeenth son of Emperor Hongwu of the Ming, was enfeoffed Prince of Ning and first garrisoned at Daning; after the Jingnan campaign the Yongle Emperor tr…
Founded in 2001, with Ng Peng-chi as president, it is dedicated to the preservation and transmission of Macau Daoist ritual music (inscribed on the National Intangible Cu…
The local Daoist organization for the city of Beijing, founded in 1984 and headquartered at the White Cloud Temple, it coordinates the religious affairs, ordinations, and…
A Chinese-English encyclopedic database of Daoism established by the Daoist Culture Centre of Fung Ying Seen Koon, containing several thousand entries on figures, temples…
Founded by the French Daoist Karine Martin, who studied for many years at temples in China, it operates alongside the Institut d'Études Taoïstes (Institute of Daoist Stud…
The provincial organization for Daoism in Hunan, headquartered in Changsha, it coordinates temples such as those on Mount Heng (Southern Peak), Yunlu Palace on Yuelu Moun…
The provincial organization for Daoism in Jiangsu, headquartered in Nanjing, it oversees Zhengyi and Quanzhen temples such as the Maoshan Daoist Institute, Xuanmiao Templ…
The provincial organization for Daoism in Liaoning, headquartered at Taiqing Palace in Shenyang, it is the central body for Quanzhen Daoism in Northeast China, coordinati…
A local Zhengyi organization headquartered at the Mansion of the Celestial Masters (Tianshi Fu), it resumed the conferral of registers on Zhengyi priests from China and a…
The provincial organization for Daoism in Shaanxi, headquartered at the Eight Immortals Palace in Xi'an, it coordinates temples such as Louguantai, Chongyang Palace, Yuqu…
Founded in 1985 and headquartered at the Shanghai City God Temple, it established the Shanghai Taoist College in 1986 (with Chen Liansheng as its first dean) and publishe…
In 1949, Zhang Enpu brought the Zhengyi Celestial Master lineage to Taiwan and established the Celestial Master's Mansion there, overseeing register conferral and ordinat…
A Daoist educational institution organized by Taiwan's Daoist community, offering courses in Daoist ritual, scripture recitation, Daoist history, and culture, aimed at te…
A local Daoist organization managing temples on Wudang Mountains such as Zixiao Palace, Taihe Palace, and Nanyan Palace, founded around 1984, it runs the Wudang Mountains…
Founded in 1991 with funding from Ching Chung Koon, it engages scholars and senior priests to offer courses on Daoist scriptures, ritual protocol, history and culture, pu…
A missionary and educational organization founded in 1996 by Daoist Master Lee Zhi Wang, it propagates Daoist doctrine, ritual, and scripture to the younger generation an…
Formally established in November 2013 by Vincenzo Di Ieso, its predecessor was the Associazione Taoista d'Italia (Italian Taoist Association) of the 1990s; it engages in …
Founded in April 1957 in Beijing, headquartered at the White Cloud Temple, Beijing, with Yue Chongdai as its first president. It is the national organization for Daoism i…
After the sixty-third Celestial Master Zhang Enpu went to Taiwan in 1949, he re-established the Taiwan Provincial Taoist Association in 1950; it was expanded into the Tao…
Entering the twenty-first century, Daoism on the Chinese mainland has continued to develop under institutionalized management. The Chinese Taoist Association has been led…
The transmission of Daoism beyond China's borders has a long but uneven history. In East Asia: Tang-dynasty Daoism influenced the Korean peninsula (Goguryeo sent an envoy…
In the mid-to-late Eastern Han, on the foundation of Huang–Lao Dao, belief in the Taiping jing, and popular shamanic cults, religious communities emerged that possessed s…
Ming Daoism, under state administration, continued the twofold "Zhengyi–Quanzhen" configuration, with Zhengyi more heavily relied upon by the court for its expertise in l…
The Northern and Southern Dynasties were an era of "reform, consolidation, and official recognition" for Daoism, with distinct developments in north and south. In the nor…
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Daoism underwent reorganization amid land reform and shifting religious policy: temple lands were confiscated or red…
The Qing dynasty made Tibetan Buddhism its state religion, and its attitude toward Daoism grew cool and controlling. The Shunzhi reign and the early Kangxi reign still tr…
The 1911 Revolution abolished the hereditary title of Celestial Master, and Daoism lost the institutional support it had enjoyed under the imperial system; it struggled t…
The Sui and Tang were among the golden ages of Daoism. Both Emperor Wen and Emperor Yang of Sui treated Daoist priests with favor, and the reign title "Kaihuang" was itse…
The Wei-Jin period saw Daoism move from a local religious community toward a nationwide religion, and from popular belief toward aristocratization and canon formation. Af…
A number of temples and Taoist associations maintain official accounts on Bilibili that post ritual protocols, scripture chanting, lectures, and documentaries, such as th…
A platform for the study of religion established at National Chengchi University, Taiwan, in 2012, directed by scholars such as Lee Fong-mao and Hsieh Shu-wei; it publish…
A national Daoist institution of higher learning founded in 1990 at the White Cloud Temple in Beijing, under the China Taoist Association; it trains advanced Daoist perso…
An influential comprehensive Daoism portal site in mainland China, with sections on Daoist news, temples, scriptures, figures, nourishing life, and ritual; it carries a l…
The Great Dictionary of Daoism, compiled by the China Taoist Association and the Suzhou Taoist Association, published by Huaxia Publishing House in 1994, containing over …
The Department of Chinese Literature at National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan has a track in religion and cultural studies; its scholars have long worked on Tainan Dao…
The Hong Kong Heritage Museum has held exhibitions related to Daoist culture, and holds artifacts from Hong Kong Daoist halls, Daoist ritual implements, and folk religion…
The Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy at Academia Sinica is one of the major centers of Daoist studies in Taiwan; scholars such as Lee Fong-mao and Liao Chao…
Based on field records of the jiao rites of the Tainan priest Chen Rongsheng, John Lagerwey analyzes one by one the structure, symbolism, and social function of Zhengyi z…
The Daoism Handbook, published by Brill, its 30 chapters written by specialists in various fields; it systematically introduces the findings of Daoist studies organized b…
A museum devoted to Daoism located in the Mount Longhu scenic area in Yingtan, Jiangxi (site of the Mansion of the Celestial Masters), displaying the lineage of the Zheng…
A systematic textbook on Daoism by Louis Komjathy, covering history, doctrine, cultivation, ritual protocol, conceptions of the body, sacred sites, and contemporary Daois…
The Musée Guimet in Paris holds the Dunhuang silk paintings and Daoist artefacts brought back by Paul Pelliot, along with Ming and Qing Daoist deity images and ritual imp…
An academic journal published by the Taiwan Association for Religious Studies (founded 2000), publishing papers across all fields of religious studies, with a substantial…
Founded on 13 February 1966 (in July 1968 Zhang Enpu, the sixty-third-generation Celestial Master, was elected its first chairman), with the Taiwan Provincial Daoist Soci…
The British Museum holds Dunhuang silk paintings brought back by Aurel Stein, Ming-dynasty Daoist deity images and ritual implements, and Daoist prints, among others; its…
The Palace Museum holds Ming and Qing court Daoist artifacts, including the image of Zhenwu in the Hall of Imperial Peace (Qin'an Dian), Daoist ritual implements, a Ming-…
An image database of rare Chinese-text editions made public by the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, University of Tokyo, including Ming- and Qing-dynasty printed e…
The Bidong Branch, in full the "Dantai Bidong Zong," is a branch of the Longmen Lineage of Quanzhen that emerged in Sichuan, and has been the main current of Daoism in th…
The Chongxuan (Twofold Mystery) school was not an organized religious community but a hermeneutical school and philosophical current within Sui-Tang Daoism devoted to int…
Bixia Yuanjun, popularly known as the Lady of Mount Tai or the Old Grandmother of Mount Tai, is the female deity with the greatest popular influence within the Daoist pan…
The Cult of Wenchang Dijun is the worship, within Daoism, of the deity who presides over civil office and emolument, formed by the merging of two strands: one is the loca…
Daoism in Southeast Asia arrived with waves of Chinese emigration from Fujian, Guangdong, Chaozhou, Hakka, and Hainan communities from the nineteenth century onward, taki…
Daoism in Taiwan is composed mainly of the system of married (huoju) Zhengyi Daoist priests brought by Hokkien and Cantonese emigrants during the Ming and Qing, and Taiwa…
The spread of Daoism in Europe and the Americas may be traced along two threads: the Daoism of Chinese immigrants and an indigenized Western Daoism. From the mid-nineteen…
Daoism in Hong Kong and Macau consists mainly of Daoist halls (daotan), temples, and married (huoju) Zhengyi Daoist priests who arrived from Guangdong from the late Qing …
The Donghua School is a Daoist tradition that split off from the Lingbao school during the Southern Song, with Ning Quanzhen as its effective founder. Its self-narrated g…
Fangxian Dao is the general term for the immortality beliefs and traditions of esoteric arts current from the Warring States through the Qin and Han, taking its name from…
Folk Daoist Ritual Traditions (Minjian Daofa, also called Fajiao or Shijiao in scholarship) is a collective term for the many ritual-master (fashi) systems that formed fr…
The Gezao Lineage is the sectarian institution that the Lingbao School developed after the Tang and Song, centered on Mount Gezao in Jiangxi as its center of transmission…
The Huashan Lineage was founded by Hao Datong, one of the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen. Hao Datong's given name was Lin, his courtesy name Taigu, and his sobriquet Guangni…
The Hunyuan Lineage was a ritual tradition founded by Lei Shizhong at the end of the Southern Song and the beginning of the Yuan, a branch of the Correct Method of the Ce…
Jingming Daoism (Pure and Bright Daoism) is a Daoist order formed during the Song and Yuan at Xishan, Nanchang, Jiangxi, taking Xu Xun of the Eastern Jin as its patriarch…
The Jinshan Lineage is a branch that split off from the Quanzhen Longmen lineage in the Ming, centered on Mount Lao (Laoshan), named for its founding patriarch Sun Xuanqi…
The Lao–Zhuang School is the strand of pre-Qin philosophical thought that takes the "Dao" as its highest category; it was first named "Daoism" (Daojia) in the Han dynasty…
The Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) School is a Daoist scriptural tradition that arose at the end of the Eastern Jin, based on the Lingbao scriptures. The transmission of the…
The Longmen (Dragon Gate) Lineage is the most influential of the branches descending from the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen, honoring Qiu Chuji as its patriarch, and takes …
Louguan Daoism was a Daoist tradition centered on the Louguan (Tower Belvedere) on Mount Zhongnan, active from the Northern and Southern Dynasties through the Sui and Tan…
The Lüshan (Mount Lü) Ritual Tradition is a popular tradition of Daoist ritual practice current in Fujian and the surrounding regions, in Taiwan, and among Fujianese comm…
The Maoshan Lineage is the sectarian institution that the Shangqing School developed after the Southern Dynasties, centered on Mount Mao (Maoshan) as its ancestral court;…
Mazu worship is the most important cult of a seafarers' protective deity around the China seas; its relationship to Daoism is close but not fully coextensive, and this si…
The Meishan Ritual Tradition is a folk Daoist ritual tradition that originated in the ancient Meishan region of central Hunan (roughly today's Xinhua and Anhua), practice…
The Nanwu Lineage is the branch founded by Tan Chuduan, one of the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen. Tan Chuduan, courtesy name Tongzheng, sobriquet Changzhen Zi, was a native…
Nanyue (Mount Heng) Daoism refers to the regional Daoist tradition formed around Mount Heng (Hengshan) in Hunan. Mount Heng is the Southern Peak among the Five Great Peak…
The Northern Celestial Masters is the school that took shape after the Daoist priest Kou Qianzhi reformed the Way of the Celestial Masters under the Northern Wei. Kou Qia…
The Pu'an Ritual Tradition is a folk ritual tradition venerating the Southern Song eminent monk Patriarch Pu'an as its founding master; although it arose from Buddhism, i…
The Qianfeng (Thousand Peaks) School is an internal-alchemy lineage founded by Zhao Bichen at the end of the Qing and the beginning of the Republic, named for his sobriqu…
The Qingjing Lineage was founded by Sun Bu'er, one of the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen, and takes its name from her sobriquet 'Wanderer of Clarity and Stillness' (Qingjing…
The Qingwei School is a Thunder Rites Daoist tradition that arose at the end of the Southern Song and into the Yuan, fusing the talismanic methods of the Shangqing, Lingb…
The Qionglong Mountain Lineage is a Daoist school founded in the early Qing by Shi Daoyuan in Suzhou, named after its ancestral court, Shangzhen Temple on Mount Qionglong…
Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism was founded by Wang Chongyang (1112–1170) of the Jin dynasty and, together with Zhengyi Daoism, forms one of the two main currents o…
The spread of Daoism on the Korean peninsula began in the Three Kingdoms period. The Samguk sagi records that in the seventh year of the Wude reign of the Tang (624) Empe…
Vietnam has been under Daoist influence since the Han dynasty, when it belonged to Jiaozhi Commandery, and it is one of the regions within the Sinitic cultural sphere whe…
The Sanfeng Lineage is a Daoist tradition honoring Zhang Sanfeng as its founding patriarch, transmitted mainly at Mount Wudang. Zhang Sanfeng, given name Quanyi, also cal…
The Sanhuang (Three Sovereigns) Tradition is a Wei–Jin Daoist scriptural school centered on the Sanhuang wen (Scripture of the Three Sovereigns — comprising the Sanhuang …
The Sannai (Three Ladies) Branch of Lüshan is a division of the Lüshan tradition whose patriarchs are the "Three Lady Sovereigns" — Chen Jinggu (Lady Chen), Lin Jiuniang …
The Sanyi Teaching is a religion founded by Lin Zhao'en of Putian, Fujian, in the Ming dynasty, teaching the unity of the Three Teachings; it does not itself belong to Da…
The Shangqing (Highest Clarity) School is a new Daoist school that emerged among the great clans of Jiangnan in the mid-Eastern Jin, taking its name from the Shangqing Sc…
The Shenxiao (Divine Empyrean) School is a talismanic Daoist order distinguished by its thunder rites, which arose at the end of the Northern Song. "Shenxiao" refers to t…
The Southern Celestial Masters refers to the branch of the Way of the Celestial Masters that developed in Jiangnan during the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, usually …
The Southern Lineage of the Golden Elixir (Nanzong) is a Daoist school of the Song–Yuan period that takes Zhang Boduan as its founding patriarch and internal-alchemical c…
Taiyi Daoism was a new Daoist tradition that arose in the Hebei–Henan region in the early Jin dynasty, together with Quanzhen Daoism and Zhen Dadao known as the 'Three Gr…
The Tianxin Zhengfa (Correct Method of the Celestial Heart) is a talismanic Daoist tradition that arose in Jiangxi at the beginning of the Northern Song, the earliest of …
Lingguan Fa refers to the system of ritual methods and liturgies centered on invoking the Daoist Dharma-protecting deity Wang Lingguan (also called Wang E or Wang Shan, a…
The Way of the Celestial Masters (Tianshi Dao) is the continuation and further development of the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice after Zhang Lu's surrender to Wei in 215, …
The Way of the Five Pecks of Rice (Wudoumi Dao) was a Daoist religious community founded by Zhang Daoling (Zhang Ling) in the Ba-Shu region at the end of the Eastern Han,…
Wudang Daoism refers to the Daoist tradition centered on Mount Wudang in Hubei and on the cult of Zhenwu (the Dark Emperor of Heaven); historically it was not a single sc…
The Langmei (Elm-Plum) Lineage is one of the resident schools of the Wudang Mountains, taking its name from Wudang's native "langmei" fruit and from Li Suxi, a Daoist pri…
The Wudang Qingwei Lineage is a local branch that formed after the Qingwei Thunder Rites spread north to the Wudang Mountains. Its founder, Zhang Shouqing (1253–1336?), p…
The Xuanwu Lineage is a branch within the resident Daoist orders of the Wudang Mountains that possesses a complete generational-name genealogy; it takes its name from its…
The Xihe Lineage is a ritual tradition that honors Sa Shoujian as its founding patriarch, taking its name from Sa Shoujian's self-styling as the "Sa Guest of Fenyang" and…
The Xizhu Xinzong (Western India Mind Lineage) of Longmen is a branch of the Longmen lineage that emerged in the early Qing, named for its founding patriarch, the 'Jizu D…
Xuanjiao (the Mysterious Teaching) is a lineage that split off from Zhengyi Daoism in the Yuan dynasty, founded by Zhang Liusun. Zhang Liusun (1248–1321), a native of Gui…
Yao Daoism refers to the form of Daoism believed in and transmitted by the Yao people (particularly the various branches of the Guoshan Yao and the Panyao). From the Song…
The Yushan Lineage was founded by Wang Chuyi, one of the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen, and takes its name from his long cultivation of the Dao at Mount Kunyu (Yushan) in S…
Zhen Dadao (True Great Way), originally named Dadao Jiao (Teaching of the Great Way), is a new Daoist order founded by Liu Deren (1122–1180) of Cangzhou, Hebei, in the ea…
Zhengyi Daoism takes the Celestial Masters of Longhushan as its patriarchal line and is characterized by talismans, registers, and rites of retreat and offering; together…
The Zhengyi Sanshan Dixue Lineage is the generation-name system current within Zhengyi Daoism, and is today the principal basis on which ordination names are assigned in …
The Art Institute of Chicago was established in 1879, and holds about 35,000 works of Asian art spanning nearly five thousand years, encompassing China, Korea, Japan, Ind…
The Associação Daoista de Portugal was founded in Lisbon in 2010 by Jose Barreno (Daoist name Huang Jingyun), with an attached temple, and is the principal Daoist organiz…
The Association Française Taoïste was founded in 2001 by Dr. Karine Martin (Daoist name Jingxiu), the leading Daoist organization in France. The Association has long enga…
There are two main Daoist organizations in Switzerland: ATAOS (the Swiss Daoist Association), founded in 2007 by Fabrice Jordan (Daoist name Mingguang), and the QuanZhen-…
The Beuk Aie Temple was one of the largest Chinese temples in the interior Northwest. First built in 1870 at the corner of First Street and B Street, it moved to 513 C St…
Boen San Bio is the second-oldest Chinese temple in Tangerang; temple tradition holds that it was founded around 1689, though this lacks independent documentary support. …
In 1949, Zhang Enpu, the 63rd-generation Celestial Master of Longhushan in Jiangxi, crossed the strait to Taiwan together with his son Zhang Yunxian and the ancestral swo…
The Chaoyuan Tu is painted on the four walls of the Sanqing Hall at Yongle Gong, completed in the second year of the Taiding era of the Yuan (1325); it depicts a grand pr…
The Ching Chung Taoist Association of America is a North American branch of Ching Chung Koon in Hong Kong (a Quanzhen Longmen Daoist temple founded in 1950 by Hou Baoyuan…
The Chong Wen Ge was built in 1849 beside the Thian Hock Keng and was one of the earliest institutions of Chinese-language education in Singapore, proposed for constructi…
Dagaoxuan Hall was an imperial Daoist temple of the Ming and Qing dynasties, built in the 21st year of the Jiajing era of the Ming (1542) by Emperor Shizong for the perfo…
The Daoist Culture Centre Database of Fung Ying Seen Koon was established in 1999, and is the largest project of digital Daoist textual resources and knowledge in the Chi…
The Deutsche Daoistische Vereinigung was founded in 2015 by Liu Chengyong, who established its associated temple the following year (2016); it is the leading Daoist organ…
Dongyue Temple in Beijing was built by imperial decree by Zhang Liusun, Grand Patriarch of the Xuanjiao (Mysterious Teaching) of the Yuan, and his disciple Wu Quanjie; co…
Donghua Miao (the Eastern Glory Temple) is the only nineteenth-century urban great temple in North America documented to have enshrined Xuantian Shangdi (Beidi, the North…
The Eight Immortals Palace, popularly called the Baxian An, is Xi'an's largest Daoist temple and a public monastery (shifang conglin) of the Longmen Lineage of Quanzhen i…
The Erxian Nunnery stands east of the Qingyang Palace. It was built in the thirty-fourth year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing (1695) by the Sichuan judicial commissioner …
Fung Ying Seen Koon is located in Fanling, New Territories, founded in 1929 by Daoist masters He Jinyu, Chen Luankai, and others who had come south from the Sanyuan Gong …
The Giok Hong Tian, popularly known as the Jade Emperor's Altar (Tiangong Tan), is one of the few temples in Singapore whose principal deity is the Jade Emperor; accordin…
The Hong Kong Taoist Association was founded in June 1961, and serves as the overarching coordinating body for the Daoist community in Hong Kong, spanning the Quanzhen, X…
The Hsinchu City God Temple holds the highest rank among the City God temples of Taiwan. It was built on the memorial of Zeng Riying, sub-prefect of Danshui Sub-prefectur…
Hsuan Tsang Monastery was founded in 1968 in Adarsha Nagar, southeast of Kolkata, as a monastery of Chinese Buddhism, named after the Tang-dynasty monk Xuanzang, who trav…
Kaohsiung Daode Temple is dedicated primarily to the Most High Ancestor of the Dao (Laozi), and also worships the Three Pure Ones, the Jade Emperor, and the Three Officia…
Khanh Van Nam Vien is one of the few temples in Vietnam, and indeed in Southeast Asia, that is a Daoist monastery in the strict sense: it preserves traditional Chinese Da…
Klenteng Eng An Kiong was built in 1825 by Kwee Sam Hway, the Chinese Kapitan of Malang, and is the most important Chinese temple in Malang, East Java. It is dedicated ma…
L'Association taoïste de Belgique was founded in 2011, belongs to the Europe Taoist Federation network, and operates as an association without a fixed temple. Its activit…
Fresno's Liesheng Gong is a two-story brick temple built with funds raised by the Chee Kung Tong in the early 1880s; the ground floor served as an assembly hall, the uppe…
Lüzu Palace in Beijing was first built during the Xianfeng reign of the Qing, originally named Lüzu Pavilion, dedicated to Patriarch Chunyang, Lü Dongbin; it is one of th…
The Ma-Tsu Temple of U.S.A. was founded in 1986 on the initiative of Gao Jiade (also known by the sobriquet Yisheng) of the Taiwanese community in San Francisco, together…
The Macau Taoist Association was founded by the local community of householder Zhengyi priests; its founding year is given as either 2001 (per the association's own websi…
The Mansion of the Celestial Masters was the residence and seat of authority of successive generations of the Celestial Master Zhang. It was built by imperial decree at G…
The Maoshan Daoist Culture Museum, located within the Maoshan Scenic Area in Jiangsu, is a dedicated exhibition institution devoted to the Shangqing school and the Daoism…
The Bixia Yuanjun Temple on Miaofeng Mountain was the most heavily worshipped Bixia Yuanjun temple in the Beijing region during the Ming and Qing, popularly known as the …
The White Cloud Temple (Baiyun Guan) in Beijing is the ancestral seat of the Quanzhen Longmen lineage and also the headquarters of the Chinese Taoist Association; its mos…
Mount Mulan is traditionally held to be the homeland of Hua Mulan; a temple to General Mulan was built there in the Tang dynasty, and in the Ming dynasty Daoism flourishe…
Nan Tian Gong, Ampang, is one of the largest and most active Nine Emperor Gods temples in Malaysia, generally traced to a temple founded by Chinese tin-mining laborers in…
The National Palace Museum, Taipei, inherits the former Qing imperial collection; it was established on 10 October 1925 in the Forbidden City in Beiping, and after the co…
Ravenswood was a gold-mining and ore-processing town in late-nineteenth-century North Queensland, where Chinese miners and market gardeners settled and built a temple. Th…
The Tanao Road temple of the Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven, popularly called the “Tiger God Shrine” (Thai: San Chaopho Suea), was founded in 1834, in the reign of Ra…
San Qing Gong was completed in March 2003; its principal deities are the Three Pure Ones, enshrined in the Daluotian Sanqing Hall, alongside a Hall of the Three Patriarch…
Sanching Temple is located at the foot of the hills beside Meihua Lake in Dongshan Township, Yilan County, and is dedicated primarily to the Three Pure Ones (the Celestia…
Shanghai City God Temple is the most important Zhengyi-order temple and center of urban cult in Shanghai. During the Yongle reign of the Ming, the county magistrate Zhang…
The Shanghai Taoist College is located within the Dongyue Temple in Songjiang, founded by the Shanghai Taoist Association to train Zhengyi Daoist priests, drawing student…
The Siang Ti Temple is located on Jalan Carpenter in Kuching's old town, and is dedicated primarily to Xuantian Shangdi (Zhenwu, the Perfected Warrior, also called Shangd…
Siew San Teng, the Tua Pek Kong Temple in Kuching, stands on the bank of the Sarawak River. According to the temple's own history it was built in 1770, and it is generall…
The Slovenian Daoist Temple of Supreme Harmony was founded in Koper in 2018 by Jure Čeh (Daoist name Yuan Weiqi), and is one of the few Daoist organizations in Europe wit…
Penang's Snake Temple was built in 1805 and is dedicated mainly to Chor Soo Kong (Qingshui Zushi), an eminent Song-dynasty monk of Anxi, Quanzhou, and the ancestral-homel…
The Sogyeokseo was the sole state Daoist institution of the Joseon dynasty, established in Hanseong (Seoul) in 1396, originally named Sogyeokjeon and renamed Sogyeokseo w…
Jidu Temple, whose full name is Jidu Beihai Temple, was first built in the second year of the Kaihuang era of the Sui (582); the Beihai Shrine was added in the twelfth ye…
The Tang stone seated statue of Laojun held at the Xi'an Beilin Museum originally stood at the Laojun Temple on Mount Li in Lintong, Shaanxi, before being moved into the …
The Taoist Sanctuary of San Diego is one of the earliest religious corporations in the United States registered under the name 'Daoist,' established in 1975; its current …
The Guandi Temple (Kanti, the Hakka pronunciation of Guandi) is the only Chinese temple on the island of Tahiti and stands in the Mamao district of Papeete. It is recorde…
The Holy Triad Temple (known to the Chinese as Sarm Sung Goon, and to Westerners as the Breakfast Creek Joss House) was built jointly in 1885–1886 by five major Cantonese…
The Bun Thau Kong Temple was founded in 1999 by Houston's Teochew Chinese community, whose core membership consists of Teochew people who, after the 1970s, immigrated a s…
The British Daoist Association (BDA) was founded in 1996 by Shi Jing, a legally registered unincorporated membership association in the United Kingdom that has been recog…
Tow Boo Keong in Penang is principally dedicated to Doumu Yuanjun (the Dipper Mother) and the Nine Emperor Gods, and is a major center of the Nine Emperor Gods cult in no…
The Tua Pek Kong Temple in Bintulu stands in the old town at the mouth of the Bintulu River, and is the principal temple of the local Chinese community, dedicated primari…
Tung Sen Tan was founded in 1938 in Central, Hong Kong Island, belonging to the Quanzhen cult of Patriarch Lü, one of the many Quanzhen Daoist halls established in Hong K…
Wahuang Palace is dedicated to Nüwa, the goddess of creation, and is the largest architectural complex in China dedicated to her worship. During the reign of Emperor Wenx…
Wanshou Palace of Xishan is the ancestral court of Jingming Zhongxiao Daoism, dedicated to the eminent Jin-dynasty priest Xu Xun (Perfected Lord Xu). Tradition holds that…
The main shrine is dedicated to "Zhenwu, Emperor of the Dark Heaven Who Quells the Heavens at the North Pole" (北极镇天真武玄天上帝, Beiji Zhentian Zhenwu Xuantian Shangdi, known a…
White Cloud Temple (Baiyun Guan) is one of the Three Great Ancestral Courts of Quanzhen Daoism and the ancestral court of the Longmen Lineage, and is also the seat of the…
The White Cloud Temple, Jiaxian, stands on Baiyun Mountain on the western bank of the Yellow River. It was founded in the thirty-third year of the Wanli era of the Ming (…
White Cloud Temple in Shanghai is the city's only Quanzhen public monastery (shifang conglin). In the eighth year of the Guangxu era of the Qing (1882), the Longmen-linea…
Wudang Mountains, anciently called Mount Taihe, is the sacred site of Zhenwu (the Perfected Warrior, Xuandi), and is listed as the ninth of the Seventy-two Blessed Lands,…
The Wudang Museum, located in the Wudang Mountains Scenic Area in Hubei, is devoted to Wudang Daoism and the cult of Zhenwu. Since the Tang and Song, the Wudang Mountains…
Wuliang Temple is the foremost Daoist temple of Mount Qian. In the early Kangxi reign of the Qing (c. 1667), Liu Tailin, an eighth-generation Longmen Quanzhen priest, cam…
Wun Chuen Sin Koon traces its origin to the Wun Chuen Sin Koon at Baiyun Cave, Mount Xiqiao, Nanhai, Guangdong (built in the twenty-seventh year of the Daoguang era of th…
Yuanching Temple, commonly called Tiangong Tan, was built through joint funding by Quanzhou-descended immigrants in Changhua in the twenty-eighth year of Qianlong of the …
Yuhuangding was originally named Yuhuang Ding ('Jade Emperor Summit'), taking its name from the Jade Emperor Temple built atop the hill in the Yuan dynasty; it was repeat…
The Yuquan Temple, Tianshui, stands at the foot of Tianjing Mountain north of the city; it was built under the direction of the Quanzhen priest Liang Zhitong in the third…
Zhengyi Temple stands beneath Liandan Cliff (Alchemy Cliff) at Mount Longhu; tradition holds that Zhang Daoling built a hut here and practiced alchemy, and that Zhang She…
Zhinan Temple, popularly known as the Immortal Lord's Temple (Xiangong Miao), is dedicated mainly to Sovereign Lord Fuyou, Lü Dongbin, and is the most famous place of Lü …
Zixiao Palace is one of the best-preserved and largest temple complexes on Wudang Mountains. Set against Zhanqi Peak, it was first built in the first year of the Xuanhe e…
The most common designation for a Daoist establishment, as in White Cloud Temple (Baiyun Guan), Xuanmiao Temple, and Louguan. A Guan ranks below a Gong in scale, and is m…
The Abbot (fangzhang) is the supreme leader of a public monastery. He must have received the Three Altars of Great Precepts and be a person of high virtue and reputation,…
The Audience Ritual is the core rite within a jiao in which the priest leads the assembly in an audience before the Celestial Worthies and the submission of a memorial, c…
'In carrying the soul and embracing the One, can you avoid separation?' Here 'the One' refers to the manifestation of the Dao, the primordial undifferentiated qi. Embraci…
Body Gods (Shenshen): Daoism holds that the human body is a microcosm, with divinities residing in each part of the body (such as the gods of Niwan, the dantian, and the …
The Cantor (dujiang) is the priest who assists the High Priest during a jiao by chanting hymns of praise, leading the recitation of scriptures, and directing the sequence…
A national Daoist organization founded in 1957, headquartered at White Cloud Temple in Beijing; its successive presidents have included Yue Chongdai, Chen Yingning, Li Yu…
The god who guards a city and administers judicial affairs in the realm of the dead, the role usually held by a deceased loyal and virtuous official. From the Tang and So…
Conferral of Registers (shoulu) is the rite by which a Zhengyi priest receives a ritual register and thereby obtains priestly rank. It must be presided over by a register…
Consecration (kaiguang) is the rite performed for a newly made deity image, in which the eyes are "dotted" and the deity is invited to enter the image; the priest perform…
Compiled at the turn of the Yuan and Ming dynasties, in 268 scrolls, it gathers the thunder rites, talismans and incantations, methods for summoning generals, healing, an…
Daily Recitation of the Mysterious Gate: "Mysterious Gate" refers to the Daoist tradition, and "daily recitation" refers to the scriptures recited every day; the term spe…
Daoist Music comprises the scripture-chant melodies and ritual-instrument music used in jiao and liturgical services. It is divided into the "Shifang yun" (十方韵, Ten Direc…
A general term for Daoist texts not included in the Zhengtong Daozang; also the title of a 36-volume anthology of the same name published by Bashu Shushe from 1992 to 199…
Daoshi (Daoist Priest) is the term for religious professionals who follow the Dao in practice and preside over liturgical rites; women are called kundao or nüguan. Quanzh…
The birthdays of the gods, such as the Jade Emperor's birthday on the ninth day of the first month, Laojun's birthday on the fifteenth of the second month, Zhenwu's birth…
Divine generals who guard the Dharma, temples, and ritual altars, such as Wang Lingguan, the Four Great Marshals (Ma, Zhao, Wen, and Guan), the marshals of the Thunder De…
The mother of the stars of the Northern Dipper, also called Doumu Yuanjun or the Numinous Sovereign Great Sage Doumu of the Prior Heaven. Her iconography, with three eyes…
A rite in which food and drink are offered to orphaned and wandering ghosts, and the Dharma is preached to deliver them. It is commonly performed at the Zhongyuan Festiva…
The Five Celestial Lords of the Five Directions: Qingling Shilao of the East, Danling Zhenlao of the South, Yuanling Yuanlao of the Center, Haoling Huanglao of the West, …
The Taishang lingbao wufu xu, one of the earliest scriptures of the Lingbao corpus. It was said to have been obtained by Yu the Great at Dongting, and it records the tali…
The Four Symbols: the Azure Dragon of the east, White Tiger of the west, Vermilion Bird of the south, and Xuanwu (Black Tortoise) of the north — the four-directional grou…
One of the Lingbao retreat rites (zhai), a great retreat performed to pray for blessings and avert calamity on behalf of the emperor and the state and to protect its alta…
The foremost scripture of the Shangqing School, in thirty-nine chapters; through chanting and visualizing thirty-nine body gods the practitioner achieves the 'whirling an…
The highest-ranking jiao rite in Daoism, in which all the deities of the Three Realms and Ten Directions are invited (luotian meaning the Great Canopy Heaven, Daluo tian)…
Guarding the One (Shouyi): an early core Daoist practice developed from 'embracing the One' in the Daodejing, emphasized alike in the Scripture of Great Peace and the Bao…
Hand Seals (jue, also qiajue) are specific finger configurations, such as the Sword Seal, Thunder Seal, and Yuqing Seal, symbolizing the summoning of spirits, transformat…
Handwritten Confessions to the Three Officials was a healing method of the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice: the sick person wrote his own name and an expression of repentan…
Recorded by the disciples of Wang Changyue of the Qing from his sermons, also known as the Platform Scripture of the Jade Garden, it sets out the essentials of cultivatio…
A Hereditary Temple (zisun miao) is a privately held temple passed down through the master-disciple relationship, from teacher to disciple. It may take on disciples but m…
The High Priest (gaogong) is the officiating Daoist who presides over the entire jiao and communicates with the gods on behalf of the assembled faithful. He must be thoro…
The practice of suppressing inauspicious influences in a dwelling and safeguarding the household's peace by means of talismans and registers, mirrors, bagua plaques, Shi …
Incantations (zhou) are verbal formulas recited to command spirits and ghosts and to restrain evil forces, such as the Incantation for Purifying the Mind, the Golden Ligh…
One of the Three Register Retreats, instituted to dispel calamity and pray for blessings on behalf of emperors, officials, nobles and commoners alike; its rank is below t…
A rite in which an altar is set up, offerings are arrayed, and petitions are submitted to expel calamity and give thanks to the gods of Heaven and Earth. Its scale ranges…
Lead and Mercury: the principal materials of external alchemy, borrowed in internal alchemy as code terms: lead ('true lead') refers to the pre-celestial true qi and the …
The master-to-disciple genealogy of Daoist transmission, perpetuated through the passing on of scriptures, the conferral of registers, the transmission of precepts, or se…
Arose in the Eastern Jin when Ge Chaofu produced the Lingbao scriptures under the name of Ge Xuan; it absorbed Buddhist notions of kalpa cycles, rebirth, and universal sa…
The branch transmitted by Qiu Chuji, one of the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen; revived in the early Qing when Wang Changyue conferred the precepts at White Cloud Temple, it…
The Memorial Document (shuwen) is the written text used in liturgical rites to report to the gods the name of the rite's sponsor and the purpose of the prayer. Together w…
The Morning and Evening Liturgy is the daily course of scripture recitation held in Daoist temples at dawn and dusk, drawn from the Daily Morning and Evening Liturgy of t…
Niwan (Muddy Pellet, Upper Cinnabar Field): the Upper Dantian, located in the cranial palace of the head. The Scripture of the Yellow Court identifies Niwan as the reside…
The seven stars of the Northern Dipper (together with two attendant stars, making nine stars in all) govern life, death and lifespan in the human world according to Daois…
The Taishang xuanling beidou benming yansheng zhenjing, which became popular in the Song dynasty. It relates how the Seven Primordial Lords of the Northern Dipper govern …
Ordination (chuanjie, Transmission of Precepts) is the rite by which a Quanzhen priest formally leaves the family and receives the precepts. A precept master transmits th…
Pacing the Dipper (Bugang) is the sequence of ritual steps by which a priest treads the altar according to the positions of the Northern Dipper's seven stars or the Nine …
Religious practice in Chinese society centred on the worship of local deities, ancestor veneration, and seasonal festivals. It is closely tied to Daoism: Daoist priests p…
Precepts and Rules are the norms of conduct that Daoism sets for believers and priests. Early forms included the Nine Precepts of Xiang'er and Lord Lao's Twenty-seven Pre…
A Public Monastery (shifang conglin) is a large Quanzhen temple that receives itinerant priests from every direction for lodging and that publicly confers ordination, suc…
The Quanzhen Monastic Rules are the rules of daily conduct and the disciplinary regulations of Quanzhen temples, set out in texts such as the Pure Rules of Complete Perfe…
Quiet Sitting (Jingzuo): the basic practice of sitting cross-legged or upright, regulating the breath and concentrating the spirit, forming the common foundation of visua…
Refinement and Salvation (Liandu): a rite of salvation for the dead that arose after the Song, in which the officiating priest combines their own internal-alchemical atta…
Registers (lu) are secret texts recording the names, forms, and subordinate officers and troops of the celestial gods. Once a Daoist priest has received a register, he ma…
Repentance Rites are liturgies of worship and confession of sin performed to dispel calamity, such as the Precious Litany of the Jade Emperor's Pardon of Sins and Bestowa…
The Ritual Altar is the sacred space in which a jiao is held, laid out according to the positions of the Three Pure Ones, the Four Sovereigns, and the various deities, an…
Ritual Implements are the objects used during liturgical rites, such as the audience tablet (chaojian, or hu), the command plaque, the ritual sword, the Tianpeng ruler, t…
"Ke" denotes ritual regulations and "yi" denotes procedural forms; together keyi refers to the operating rules and texts of the various Daoist rites, such as the Morning …
The Lingbao wuliang duren shangpin miaojing, the foremost scripture of the Lingbao School. It proclaims that the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning opens the kalpa …
Divided into the Inner Effulgences and Outer Effulgences scriptures, this Wei-Jin Shangqing visualization text describes in heptasyllabic verse the names of the gods resi…
Formed in the Eastern Jin when Yang Xi, Xu Mi, and others received the revealed Shangqing scriptures from Wei Huacun and other transcendent beings; Tao Hongjing of Maosha…
Observed on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the day on which the Official of Heaven bestows blessings. From the Tang dynasty onward it has been celebrated wit…
An expanded version of the Four Sovereigns: besides the Jade Emperor, the Great Emperor of Purple Tenuity, the Great Emperor of Curved Array, and the Empress of Earth, it…
Spirits of the Five Viscera (Wuzang Shen): the Scripture of the Yellow Court holds that the heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys each have a presiding spirit, each wit…
The Steps of Yu are traditionally said to derive from the limping gait that Yu the Great developed from the exhaustion of controlling the floods — three steps leaving nin…
Written by Chen Guofu, first published in 1949 and revised and expanded in 1963, it investigates the compilation of the Daoist Canon through the ages, the appearance of D…
Submitting Petitions (shangzhang) was a core rite of the early Way of the Celestial Masters, in which a priest wrote a petition on behalf of a believer and submitted it t…
The Great Emperor of Blue Florescence of the East Pole, who presides over the salvation of suffering souls in hell and their release from torment, an iconography resembli…
Talismans (fu) are mysterious graphic characters written in cinnabar ink on paper or silk, serving as the script of the celestial gods and as tokens attesting a priest's …
Talismans and Registers (fulu) is a compound term for fu and lu together, referring broadly to the Daoist ritual traditions characterized by talismans, incantations and m…
Markets and deity-entertainment festivities held at temples on a god's birthday or festival day, such as the Yanjiu Festival (Qiu Chuji's birthday) at White Cloud Temple,…
The Three Altars of Great Precepts are the three graded sets of precepts transmitted in Quanzhen ordination: the Precepts of Initial Perfection (the Ten Precepts and othe…
The three great talisman-conferral centers recognized by the Song court: Longhushan (Zhengyi), Maoshan (Shangqing), and Mount Gezao (Lingbao). In the Yuan dynasty the Cel…
The three great emperors of Heaven, Earth, and Water: the Official of Heaven bestows blessings, the Official of Earth pardons sins, and the Official of Water dispels cala…
Shangyuan (the fifteenth of the first month), Zhongyuan (the fifteenth of the seventh month), and Xiayuan (the fifteenth of the tenth month), the days on which the Offici…
Thunder Rites (leifa) are a system of Daoist ritual that arose in the Song dynasty, in which a priest, grounded in internal-alchemical attainment, summons and commands th…
The subdivisions under each section of the Three Caverns: root texts, divine talismans, jade instructions, numinous diagrams, genealogical records, precepts, dignified ob…
Twenty-eight constellations near the ecliptic, divided among the Four Symbols: the Azure Dragon of the East, the White Tiger of the West, the Vermilion Bird of the South,…
Visualization (Cunsi): a meditative technique of closing the eyes to inwardly observe, imagining the various body-gods, the sun, moon and stars, or the descent of immorta…
The Wangye Jiao (Plague-god Offering) is a large-scale jiao rite in Fujian and Taiwan for sending off pestilence and praying for peace, in which the Royal Lords are rever…
The birthday of Qiu Chuji on the nineteenth day of the first month, marked by a grand temple fair at White Cloud Temple, Beijing. According to tradition, immortals take o…
Yellow Court (Huangting): the central palace within the body, identified variously as the spleen (the Middle Dantian), or as within the head, or as the lower dantian — th…
One of the Lingbao retreat rites, instituted specifically to deliver the souls of the dead and relieve the suffering of the underworld. It became the most widely practice…
Zhai and Jiao (Retreats and Offerings): the general term for Daoist ritual. 'Zhai' originally meant purifying body and mind and repenting of transgressions (as in the Gol…
A general term for the talismanic lineages descended from the Way of the Celestial Masters; in the Yuan dynasty the Celestial Master of Longhushan was given authority ove…
Observed on the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the day on which the Official of Earth grants pardon for sins. Daoist temples hold the Yellow Register Retreat a…
The Biography of the Perfected Lord Xu records the life and wonders of Xu Xun (c. 239–374) of the Eastern Jin: styled Jingzhi, a native of Nanchang, he once served as mag…
The Central Scripture of Laozi, also called the Pearl Palace and Jade Calendar, is one of the earliest surviving Daoist scriptures to describe the spirits within the huma…
Bai Yuchan, fifth of the Five Southern Patriarchs and the effective founder of the Southern Lineage as an organized school, left his poetry, prose, and alchemical writing…
The Complete Collection of Daoist Ritual Protocols, attributed to the editorial hand of Du Guangting, is a compendium of retreat and offering ritual texts from the late T…
The Concealed Instructions for Ascending to Perfection (Dengzhen yinjue) is Tao Hongjing's compilation of Shangqing scriptural instructions, in which he classified, arran…
The Corpus of Daoist Ritual is the largest compendium of talismanic and ritual methods in the Daoist Canon, in 268 juan, gathering the Thunder Rites and ritual methods of…
The Xuanmen Risong Zaowan Gongke Jing (Daily Morning and Evening Liturgy of the Mysterious Gate) is a compilation of scriptures and litanies recited daily, morning and ev…
Daoism Handbook, edited by Livia Kohn and published by Brill in 2000 as part of its Handbook of Oriental Studies series, is the first systematic collection of research su…
The Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era (Zhengtong Daozang) is the only complete premodern Daoist canon still in existence, and is the fundamental body of literature for th…
Daoist Texts outside the Canon is the most important modern facsimile compendium of Daoist texts, edited by Hu Daojing, Chen Yaoting, Duan Wengui, Lin Wanqing, and others…
The Treatise on the Origins and Symptoms of Diseases is the first systematic Chinese treatise on the causes and mechanisms of disease, compiled by imperial order by Chao …
The Declarations of the Perfected (Zhengao) is the fundamental text of the Shangqing School, compiled by Tao Hongjing from the handwritten records of "declarations descen…
The Daojiao Wenhua Cidian (Dictionary of Daoist Culture) was edited by Zhang Zhizhe and published by Jiangsu Ancient Books Publishing House in 1994; it is a Daoist dictio…
The Digest of Essential Rites, Regulations and Precepts is a Daoist compendium of ritual regulations and precepts compiled by Zhu Faman, a Daoist priest of Yuqing Temple …
The Hanwudi neizhuan (Esoteric Biography of Emperor Wu of the Han) is presented as an account of Emperor Wu of the Han's quest for immortality: on the seventh day of the …
The Essentials of the Daoist Canon (Daozang jiyao) is the most important compendium of Daoist texts from the Qing dynasty. Two accounts exist of its compilation: one hold…
The Established Regulations of the Daoist Community is a compendium of retreat and offering documents and ritual regulations compiled by Lü Yuansu of the Southern Song, i…
The Chongyang lijiao shiwu lun (Fifteen Discourses of Wang Chongyang on Establishing the Teaching) is a summary of practice set out by the founder of Quanzhen Daoism, Wan…
The Gazetteer of the Wanshou Palace on Mount Xiaoyao, in twenty-two scrolls, records the history, institutions, and cult of Xu Xun at the Yulong Wanshou Palace on Mount X…
Baiyun Guan in Beijing, the ancestral court of the Longmen Lineage of Quanzhen Daoism and the seat of the Chinese Taoist Association, had its predecessors in the Tang-dyn…
The Golden Book of Salvation according to the Lingbao Tradition is the largest compendium of ritual in the Daoist Canon, attributed to the transmission of Ning Quanzhen o…
The Zhonghua Daojiao Dacidian (Great Dictionary of Chinese Daoism) was edited by Hu Fuchen of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and published by China Social Science…
There are two principal works sharing the title Daojiao Dacidian (Great Dictionary of Daoism). The first was edited by Li Shuhuan and published by the Chuliu Book Company…
The Great Precepts of Celestial Immortality form the third altar of the Quanzhen Three Altars of Great Precepts, also called the "Great Precepts of Celestial Immortality …
Jin Yunzhong's recension of the Great Rites of Shangqing Lingbao is the culminating work of Southern Song Lingbao ritual, in forty-five juan. Jin Yunzhong was a Southern …
Wang Qizhen's recension of the Great Rites of Shangqing Lingbao, in sixty-six scrolls, is a systematic compilation of the Lingbao methods of the Donghua tradition transmi…
The Heart Methods of the Dragon Gate Lineage is a record of the dharma-talks given by Wang Changyue, seventh-generation precept master of the Quanzhen Longmen Lineage, in…
Qing Xitai's four-volume Zhongguo Daojiao Shi (History of Chinese Daoism), collectively compiled by the Institute for Religious Studies of Sichuan University, was publish…
Instructions on the Heart-Elixir Scripture of the Upper Cavern (Shangdong xindan jingjue), in three scrolls, is a Tang-dynasty text combining external alchemy, ingestion,…
The Jade Mirror of Lingbao is a compendium of Lingbao retreat and offering ritual essentials compiled in the Yuan dynasty, in 43 juan, its title "Jade Mirror" likening th…
Lu Xiujing was the founder of Daoist retreat and offering ritual; while editing the scriptures of the Three Caverns he also drew on the ancient Lingbao scriptures to esta…
The Liturgies of the Yellow Register Retreat is the master compilation of Yellow Register Retreat ritual, edited by Du Guangting on the basis of the earlier liturgies of …
The Sandong zhunang (Pearl Satchel of the Three Caverns) is a Daoist encyclopedic compilation assembled in the early Tang; organized by topic, it excerpts from the script…
The Perfect Scripture of the Great Cavern of Highest Clarity (Shangqing dadong zhenjing) is the foremost scripture of the Shangqing corpus; its "thirty-nine chapters" cor…
Pillowbook Methods for Preserving Health is attributed to Sun Simiao, divided into sections on Self-Discipline, Prohibitions, Daoyin, Ingesting Qi, Guarding the One, and …
The Platform Scripture of the Jade Garden is an alternative name for the Heart Methods of the Dragon Gate Lineage, so called because Wang Changyue set up an altar at the …
The Precept Scripture of the Most High Lord Lao is presented as precepts spoken by Laozi to Yin Xi as he passed through the pass, proclaiming Daoism's 'Five Precepts' (ag…
The Chuzhen Jielü (Precepts of Initial Perfection) is the precept text for the first of the "Three Altars of Great Precepts" (santan dajie) established by the early-Qing …
The Precepts of Medium Ultimate, in full the Precepts of Medium Ultimate: Great Precepts of Shangqing Dongzhen Wisdom on Contemplating the Body, form the second altar of …
The Quanzhen Qinggui (Pure Rules of Complete Perfection) is a one-fascicle compilation of Quanzhen monastic regulations compiled by Lu Daohe in the Yuan dynasty, the earl…
The Qinghe zhenren beiyou yulu (Recorded Sayings of the Perfected Qinghe on the Northern Journey) compiles the teachings given to disciples by Qiu Chuji's successor, Yin …
Records of Daoist Miraculous Efficacy is the most important collection of Daoist miracle-tales from the Tang and Five Dynasties, compiled by Du Guangting, gathering sever…
The Yongcheng jixian lu (Records of the Assembled Immortals of the Fortified Walled City) is China's first collective biographical compilation devoted exclusively to fema…
The Regulations for the Practice of Daoism in Accordance with the Scriptures of the Three Caverns is the most important compendium of medieval Daoist institutional regula…
The Qingwei Zhaifa (Retreat Rites of the Qingwei Tradition) is a Yuan-dynasty ritual manual of the Qingwei school in two fascicles, recording the procedures and essential…
The Rites for Leaving the Family and Transmission of Ordination is a ritual manual for the ordination of Daoist priests written by the Northern Song Daoist Jia Shanxiang,…
The Taiping Jing (Scripture of Great Peace) is the earliest and longest of the surviving early Daoist scriptures, and the intellectual source of the Way of Great Peace (T…
The Scripture of Precepts Chanted by Lord Lao preserves a surviving portion of the Yunzhong Yinsong Xinke zhi Jie (New Chanted Regulations and Precepts from within the Cl…
The Scripture of the Dignified Observances of Orthodox Unity is a text of the Way of the Celestial Masters (Zhengyi) setting out the norms of dignified conduct for Daoist…
The Jiutian Shengshen Zhang jing (Scripture of the Nine Heavens' Stanzas of Life-Giving Spirit) is an important scripture among the ancient Lingbao scriptures, describing…
The Beidou jing (Scripture of the Northern Dipper for Prolonging Life) tells how the Supreme Venerable Sovereign (Laojun) descended at the Yuju site in Chengdu and expoun…
The Yuhuang jing, in full the Scripture of the Original Deeds of the Jade Emperor (Gaoshang yuhuang benxing ji jing), is a scripture that appeared after the rise of the c…
《元始天尊说北方真武妙经》是真武（玄天上帝）信仰最核心的「本传」经典，经中元始天尊为妙行真人说真武来历：净乐国王与善胜皇后梦吞日光，怀胎十四月，于开皇元年三月初三日诞太子于王宫；太子「生而神灵，长而勇猛，不统王位，唯务修行」，誓断天下妖魔，遂辞父母入武当山修道四十二年，功成果满，白日登天，玉帝敕镇北方，统摄真武之位；又敕真武率天兵下界收断…
The Perfected Writs in Red Script of the Five Elders is a core scripture among the ancient Lingbao texts, placed first among all the scriptures in Lu Xiujing's Catalogue …
The Scripture of the Yellow Court and Hidden Stem Methods for the Body, in one fascicle, combines the body-god visualization tradition of the Scripture of the Yellow Cour…
The Scripture of the Yellow Court: Inner Effulgences (Huangting neijing jing) is the most important scripture of visualization practice in the Shangqing School, composed …
The Scripture of the Yellow Court: Outer Effulgences (Huangting waijing jing) is one of the two Huangting Jing texts, composed in seven-syllable rhymed verse and about ha…
The Scripture Spoken by Lord Lao on Requiting the Profound Kindness of Parents proclaims, in the name of the Supreme Venerable Sovereign, the kindness of parents in beari…
The Shangqing Scriptural Corpus is a body of "descended revelation" scriptures formed in the mid-Eastern Jin between the Xu clan of Jurong and the medium Yang Xi, later h…
The Supplementary Daoist Canon of the Wanli Era (Wanli xu Daozang) was compiled and printed by imperial edict in the thirty-fifth year of the Wanli reign of Emperor Shenz…
The Wushang Biyao (Supreme Secret Essentials) is the earliest surviving Daoist encyclopedic compilation, commissioned by Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, who after suppressin…
The Encyclopedia of Taoism is the most comprehensive Daoist encyclopedia in the English-speaking world, chief-edited by the Italian-born scholar Fabrizio Pregadio with co…
The Taoist Body (French original title Le corps taoïste) is a classic work of Western Daoist studies. Kristofer Schipper conducted long-term fieldwork in southern Taiwan …
The Treatise on Sitting in Oblivion (Zuowang lun) is the celebrated work of the Tang Shangqing patriarch Sima Chengzhen on the stages of cultivating the Dao, centered on …
The Duren jing, in full the Wondrous Scripture of the Upper Chapters on Limitless Salvation of Primordial Beginning, is the first scripture of the Lingbao lineage, and th…
The Xiang'er Commentary on the Laozi is the early Way of the Celestial Masters' (Wudoumi Dao) religious commentary on the Daodejing, and the key document through which Da…
The Zhonghua Daozang is the first systematic reorganization of Daoist scriptures undertaken in nearly five hundred years since the Ming, edited in chief by Zhang Jiyu of …
清微雷法是宋元「道法合一」运动的完成形态：它把内丹学彻底注入符箓道法，主张「以道为体、以法为用」，符咒诀罡只是末技，先天一炁与正心诚意才是根本。本文依据《正统道藏》原典——《道法会元》前五十五卷清微部分、《清微元降大法》《清微神烈秘法》《清微斋法》《清微丹诀》——逐项整理清微雷法的具体行持：法论纲领、内炼基础、变神存思、书符运炁、掐诀步罡…
「武当＝武学圣地」的公众形象，是三重叠加的产物：黄宗羲《王征南墓志铭》（1669）一句「内家拳起于宋之张三峰」、民国中央国术馆把太极形意八卦划归「武当门」的分类建构、以及金庸与还珠楼主的小说想象。真实的武当道教以真武信仰、斋醮科仪、内丹修炼为主体，武术是附属，且大量内容为民国以来整合追认；但当代武当山又以这一形象为依托，重建了确实存在且已…