Bo Family Way (Bojia Dao)帛家道

Also known as

Bo Family Way (Bojia Dao), Bo He's Way

Type

Folk Daoist Ritual Traditions

Period

Wei–Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties

Founded

Wei-Jin (c. 3rd century)

Founder

Bo He

Region

The Wu-Yue region of Jiangnan

Status

Vanished — Lost after the Southern Dynasties, known only from scattered records in the Zhengao, the Zhoushi mingtong ji, and the Shenxian zhuan.

Overview

The Bo Family Way (Bojia Dao) was a Daoist tradition popular in the Jiangnan region during the Wei–Jin period, named for its patriarch Bo He. Bo He, styled Zhongli, was a native of Liaodong who, according to the Shenxian zhuan, studied under Dong Feng and then entered Mount Xicheng to study the Dao under Wang Fangping, obtaining the Sanhuang wen and the Wuyue zhenxing tu from the walls of a stone chamber, which he afterward transmitted to his disciples. The Bo Family Way had a considerable following among the aristocratic clans of the Eastern Jin; Tao Hongjing's Zhengao mentions that the Xu Mi family had earlier followed the Bo Family Way before turning to the Shangqing scriptures, and the Zhoushi mingtong ji likewise records that Zhou Ziliang's ancestors served the Bo Family Way. Scholars surmise that the Bo Family Way centered on sacrificial rites, talismans and registers, and the subduing of ghosts and spirits, with a strong flavor of popular shamanism, coexisting with the Celestial Masters in Jiangnan and forming an important part of the background to Jiangnan Daoism before the emergence of the Shangqing scriptures. Because sources are scarce, the details of its doctrine and organization are difficult to establish. After the rise of the Shangqing school, followers of the Bo Family Way gradually shifted into the Shangqing and Lingbao systems, and it is no longer recorded after the Southern Dynasties. The Bo Family Way, together with the Li Family Way and the Way of Lord Gan, belonged to the popular Daoist traditions of the Wei–Jin period, reflecting the pluralistic coexistence of early Daoism and its practice of taking the names of founding patriarchs or clans as banners.

Core Doctrine

Venerates Bo He as the patriarch who attained the Dao, and probably worshipped the Sanhuang wen and the Wuyue zhenxing tu; centered on sacrifices to deities and the seeking of blessings and averting of calamity, though its doctrine is otherwise undocumented. Some scholars, on the basis of its connection to the Sanhuang wen, surmise that the Bo Family Way belonged to a tradition of methods (fangshu) emphasizing talismanic writs and the worship of mountain deities, situated between the Fangxian Dao and the Celestial Masters. The details of its doctrine cannot be verified from surviving sources.

Practice & Ritual

Sacrificial rites, talismans and registers, subduing of ghosts and spirits, and life-nourishing techniques such as ingesting substances (fushi), though the specific rituals can no longer be verified. According to the Zhengao, its followers largely performed libationer rites (jijiu) and sacrificial ceremonies. The Zhengao criticizes the "libationers" among Bo Family Way followers for chiefly practising animal sacrifice and excessive sacrificial worship of ghosts and spirits, reflecting the tradition's emphasis on sacrifice; it may also have preserved life-nourishing techniques such as Ingesting Qi (Fuqi) and Daoyin.

Transmission

Bo He → disciples and believing families in Jiangnan (such as the ancestors of the Eastern Jin Xu and Zhou clans) → by the end of the Eastern Jin, most of its followers had gone over to the Shangqing school, after which the tradition has no further transmission. After the Southern Dynasties it is mentioned in Daoist sources only as an older tradition superseded by the Shangqing school; elements of its ritual methods may have been absorbed into the later Sanhuang scriptural system. The specific line of teacher-disciple transmission cannot be verified.

Key Scriptures

Key Figures