Lüshan (Mount Lü) Ritual Tradition闾山派
- Also known as
- Lüshan Teaching, Lüshan Method, Redhead Method (Hongtou Fa), Fajiao (Folk Daoist Ritual Tradition), Fujian–Taiwan, Sannai (Three Ladies) Branch of Lüshan, Lüshan Fazhu (Ritual Master) Lineage
- Type
- Folk Daoist Ritual Traditions
- Period
- Song–Yuan to the Present
- Founded
- Formed in Fujian around the Song dynasty, taking fixed shape after merging with the cult of Chen Jinggu (Lady of Linshui) (c. 12th–14th century)
- Founder
- Xu Xun, Chen Jinggu
- Region
- Fujian, southern Zhejiang, eastern Guangdong, southern Jiangxi, Taiwan, and Hokkien communities in Southeast Asia
- Status
- Extant — This is one of the most active popular Daoist ritual traditions among Fujian-Taiwan and overseas Fujianese communities; the Linshui Palace in Gutian, Fujian, is its ancestral temple, and numerous ritual altars are found throughout Taiwan, with transmission also continuing in Fuzhou, eastern and western Fujian, eastern Guangdong, southern Zhejiang, and Singapore/Malaysia; it has gradually revived on the mainland since the reform and opening-up era.
Overview
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 communities in Southeast Asia; it traces its ritual methods to the legendary "Mount Lü," an immortal realm said to lie beneath the Min River, venerates Xu Xun (Perfected Lord Xu) as "Master of the Lüshan Methods," and takes Chen Jinggu (Lady Linshui, Lady Chen) as its central deity and the female patriarch of its ritual lineage. Lüshan ritual methods merged elements from the Tianxin Zhengfa (Correct Method of the Celestial Heart), Lingbao, and Jingming cults of Xu Xun current from the Tang and Song onward, together with shamanic methods and the popularized folk form of Buddhist Tantric teaching, taking shape in Fujian during the Song and Yuan and spreading, along with migrants, to Taiwan and Nanyang (Southeast Asia) in the Ming and Qing. Its ritual masters are commonly called "Red-Head Masters" (in northern Taiwan), or "Fashi," "Shigong," or "Red-Head Daoshi," and wrap their heads in red cloth; they mainly perform "yang rites" such as praying for peace, calming fright, restoring fortune, inviting deities, sending off malign influences, exorcistic renewal, protecting pregnancy, aiding childbirth, and passing through life-crisis gates — a division of labor distinct from the Zhengyi and Lingbao priests ("black-head" priests) who mainly perform funerary rites for the deliverance of the dead. Within the Lüshan tradition there are further branches, including the Fazhugong branch (venerating the Four Sages Zhang, Xiao, Liu, and Lian, or "Master Zhang"), the Sannai (Three Ladies) branch (venerating Chen Jinggu, Lin Jiuniang, and Li Sanniang, the "Three Lady Sovereigns"), and the Lüshan Wanglao branch; the "red-head methods" of northern Taiwan mostly belong to the Sannai branch. Lüshan ritual has its own distinctive protocols and ritual implements (dragon-horn trumpet, ritual cord, ritual bell, ritual sword), pacing of the Dipper, and performative rites such as "doing the ritual" and "breaking the city" or "passing through gates," often combined with spirit-medium and spirit-writing practices. Scholars refer to this tradition as Folk Daoist Ritual Traditions (Fajiao), or as "the Two Gates of Dao and Fa," regarding it as a typical instance of the intermingling of Daoism and popular religion, and it is one of the most active ritual traditions in contemporary Fujian-Taiwan popular religious practice.
Core Doctrine
It venerates Xu Xun (Lüshan Jiulang, Xu Jiulang) as Master of the Methods and Chen Jinggu as patriarch, holding that its ritual methods derive from the immortal realm of Mount Lü; it maintains that ritual should be used to save people, exorcise demons and dispel malign influences, and protect pregnancy and infants; its pantheon merges Daoist deities (the Three Pure Ones, the Jade Emperor), Buddhist deities (Guanyin, Pu'an), and local gods; and it places great weight on master-disciple transmission through "passing the methods" and on oaths sworn at the ritual altar.
Practice & Ritual
Peace-praying offerings, calming fright, restoring fortune, exorcistic renewal, sending off malign influences, protecting pregnancy and aiding childbirth, passing through life-crisis gates (for children), inviting deities and building bridges, and (in some cases) "breaking the city" to save souls from suffering; the use of the dragon-horn trumpet, ritual cord, ritual bell, and ritual sword; wearing a red headcloth (hence "red-head"); pacing the Dipper, casting divination blocks, and drawing talismans. Ritual masters may be lay, family-based "fire-dwelling" practitioners, and most hold this role part-time. The tradition preserves a rich body of ritual music, implements, and incantation texts, making it a major focus of folklore research.
Transmission
Legend holds: Xu Xun of Mount Lü transmitted the methods → Chen Jinggu and others → master-disciple transmission ("passing the teaching" between father and son, or master and disciple) at ritual altars throughout Fujian → transmission to Taiwan, eastern Guangdong, southern Zhejiang, and Southeast Asia in the Ming and Qing → contemporary ritual altars and temples in various locations. There is no unified religious organization. The Lüshan tradition is closely tied to Zhengyi Daoism, and many Lüshan ritual masters also receive Zhengyi registers; Taiwanese Daoist circles commonly summarize this parallel status as "the Two Gates of Dao and Fa."